A pacifist and a serial killer (KTA)
by HufflepuffKat
Summary: The Autobots are stuck with a pacifist Decepticon, and the Decepticons have found themselves stuck with a human serial killer. Chaos ensues and the one thing that everyone can be sure of is damn, this war is getting old. Part of the KTA challenge. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Yo, that's right, I'm doing this for the KTA challenge, I hope you enjoy and I hope I can keep the chapters coming at a steady pace.**

The meteor caught the trio of kids and their guardians by complete surprise. The six of them had been making their way to the Autobots' base when the large fiery sphere had landed a few miles away from the side of the road, causing a large 'THUD!' shaking the ground below them, and forcing the Autobots to slam their brakes and transform into their bipedal forms.

"Now, what, the hell, was that?!" Demanded Miko, making a move to run towards the landing site only to be stopped by Bulkhead's servo blocking her path.

"No clue, Miko, we should probably check it out but…" Bulkhead looked to Arcee and Bumblebee.

Arcee finished for him, "But it could be a Decepticon trap. Bad idea to bring you three along." She said looking down on the three children.

"Come on! If something happens you can always call for a groundbridge." Miko argued. Before any of the guardians could make a denial, Raff spoke up, sounding serious and concerned.

"Guys, what if it was a Cybertonian crash landing on Earth, what if they need our help?" That, no-one could argue with, while a Cybertonian hadn't arrived on Earth in a while, they did tend to appear to be like meteors upon entering the Earth's atmosphere. And if chances were that meteor was a Cybertonian, and Autobot even, the possibility of them being injured from the landing and needing immediate assistance was too bad to allow them to hesitate.

So the three guardians transformed into their vehicle forms and sped towards the crash sight, leaving their charges to race after them.

Upon reaching the landing sight the guardians immediately recognised that this in fact a Cybertonian landing sight, however from the wreckage alone they couldn't tell two valuable pieces of information; the faction of the Cybertonian and if they had survived.

The vessel, they could tell, was poorly damaged, likely so even before entering the Earths atmosphere. It was also very tiny, barely capable of carrying a full grown mech.

Bulkhead carefully started to tear off the entry to vessel, mindful of the possibly faint life inside as well as slightly aware of the children who had finally caught up with their guardians.

Immediately after the so called door's removable, the shape of a femme fell out of the vessel.

The femme lacked proper armour showing that she wasn't warrior class, but she was about Bee's height, taller than Arcee. She had a black frame with silver highlights, and oddly enough, the only bulky part of her frame was her servos, which were at least the size if not bigger that her own helm, and were mostly 'palm' with undersized digits which looked like they just cut off at their first joint.

A large groan came from the femme as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and put one her weirdly sized servos to her head, optics still offlined.

Miko, being Miko, wanted to get a closer look at the femme, and started to sneak up closer off to the side of the Autobots, everyone else too distracted to notice.

It was, regrettably then, that the femme onlined her optics to reveal a very familiar red glow, instantly putting the Autobots present alert. But Miko, not so much, she was still watching the events before her in excitement.

"What's that?" the Decepticon femme spoke in Cybertonian, upon setting her sights on the human girl, that none of the children, most importantly Miko, understood. Not hesitating, the femme picked up poor Miko in a surprisingly… gentle… manner.

"So tiny." The femme commented in Cybertonian before noticing her Autobot company, instinctively putting Miko to her chassis when she saw their weapons aimed at her.

The Autobots were at a standstill, unable to shoot at the Decepticon in front of them while she had a hostage, but they also had other humans to worry about.

Arcee made the call to comm. Ratchet. "Ratchet, we need a groundbridge now, we got a Decepticon holding Miko hostage and we got the other kids here too, I'm requesting backup." Arcee spoke in English, knowing, no hoping that the femme in front of her had yet to learn the language.

The Deception narrowed her eyes at Arcee, recognising her use of the alien language, but not understanding it, it was then that she noticed the 'primitive wireless network' that was the internet and began to search quickly, almost desperately, through the strange, poorly organised data base to get an understanding of the language that was being used around the 'con. Disadvantaged as she was in her current situation, she wanted to at least get a basic understanding of her enemies' communication.

The groundbridge opened up on the other side of the Decepticon, and out came Optimus Prime and Ratchet, surrounding the Decepticon and preventing all chance of her escape.

Upon seeing the femme, Optimus's eyes grew wary with recognition, however they also held relief as his battle stance ceased.

"Deepdrive, it's been a long time, old friend. Autobots, stand down, this is one Decepticon that won't be able to cause us any trouble."

If only he knew what was about to come.


	2. Chapter 2

"Deepdrive, it's been a long time, old friend. Autobots, stand down, this is one Decepticon that won't be able to cause us any trouble." Announced Optimus Prime, however the none of Autobots complied, eyes untrusting as the femme, Deepdrive, only looked at Optimus with anger.

"Old friend? Orion Pax was my friend, you, Optimus Prime, I don't even know you." Deepdrive spat, pointedly in English, language already downloaded.

Optimus didn't seem a bit surprised by Deepdrive's refusal, and Arcee moved over to question him.

"Prime, this 'con doesn't seem friendly towards you, why order the cease fire? We cannot ignore that she has Miko hostage." Optimus nodded, but seemed unworried.

"Attitudes towards myself or the Autobots do not matter, Deepdrive has taken the Sacred Vow of Absolute Pacifism, and cannot cause anyone any harm."

Jack, Rafael and Miko from her spot in Deepdrive's hand watched in confusion as the rest of the Autobots hesitantly put their weapons down at the last relevation.

"Um, Optimus, I get that this vow thingy seems important and all, but how do we know that the 'con isn't just going to break it and use Miko to make an escape?" Asked Jack.

Optimus looked down on Jack in understanding. "While there are regular vows for Cybertonians just like there are for humans, Sacred Vows are a set of vows that during the time before the war, a Cybertonian could have imprinted on their very processor, under no circumstances, can one break a Sacred Vow that they have sworn, even in an event their very spark is on the line. Deepdrive, has made the Vow of Absolute Pacifism, that prevents her from harming any living sentient creature."

"What I want to know is why would a _'con_ swear a Vow of Pacifism, 'cons are all about destroying innocent lives." Questioned Bulkhead, to which Deepdrive snorted.

"I made my Vow long before the war sweetspark, and haven't you been paying attention, or do I need to check processor? How do you think I knew Pax? I was a member of the Decepticons before we were even called that."

Bulkhead sputtered, confused and feeling slightly belittles at being called 'sweetspark' by a 'con, and very insulted about the comment she made about his intelligence. He may not be the brightest 'bot out there, he was first to admit that, but there was no way he was okay with a 'con saying that.

"Deepdrive, now that we are aware that you cannot harm Miko, she holds no value as a hostage for you, can please put her down." Arcee spoke up calmly and clearly, and it seemed that Deepdrive had even forgot that she had been holding the girl, at took another look at Miko. Seeing that the human girl was very _unhappy_ with being in her hand, the Decepticon put Miko down carefully.

"A hostage was never my intension, I was only curious. I mean, look at the little guys, they're so teeny tiny, who'd ever wanna hurt them." Deepdrive cooed. It was only then, now that they no longer had a chance to actually listen to the Decepticon femmes voice, which had motherly tonne despite appearing to be no older than anyone else here (except maybe Bumblebee), and they couldn't tell if she was doing it on purpose to be demeaning or if was just her voice considering that it was the only tone she used.

"Countless of your fellow comrades." Ratchet deadpanned, attitude as grumpy as usual.

Deepdrive actually _sighed_. "Megsie, just _what_ are you doing?"

Bulkhead snorted, "Megsie?"

"How do you still have your spark if you call him that?" Arcee remarked snidely.

"Me and Megsie go back almost as far as he and 'Wave, and do you _know_ how long they've known each other? Besides anyone who has known me that long, has given up orns ago on me calling them their real name."

"Pardon me for interrupting your pleasant discussion, but as far as I can tell the conflict here is over and this interrogation can continue with Deepdrive in the brig." Ratchet interrupted gruffly.

Deepdrive rolled her optics. "Can't you just let me go, you _know_ I can't do anything to hurt anyone."

"No."

"Scrap."

KnockOut was not having a good day. One of his countless vehicon patients had scratched his paintjob. He got yelled at by Megatron for offlining one of his countless vehicon patients. When he took a break from the Nemesis, he got caught in pathetic human traffic. And now a human had found their way into the back seats of his vehicle mode.

It was rather odd, he had been aware that sometimes human criminals would highjack other human's cars, but he never thought a human would try to highjack HIM.

From as far as he could tell, this human was _crazy_. As in, actual crazy, the type he saw each day from the ever decaying mind of his leader.

The young(?) human female did not seem to be surprised when she saw that the car was driving itself, but only changed the aim of her knife from the place a human driver's neck would be, to the leather of his seats.

She had threatened to tear his seats apart! Like a savage! The horror! The _Nerve._

Of course he did as she asked him to, as any 'con who valued his appearance he did would, and when she asked him to take him some place the human cops couldn't find her he took off and headed straight to the Nemesis.

KnockOut wasn't sure who he wanted to catching him bringing a human on board the less, Soundwave or Megatron? Either way he was very, very much in trouble.


	3. Chapter 3

Suzie was having fun. This morning she had killed the family she had been stalking the past month, had watched the cops discover their cold, dead, bodies, and had fun running from the cops and had now highjacked a living car. Her psychologist buddy she keeps in her basement wasn't going to believe this!

Suzie had been angered when she saw that the car was leaving town, as she had forgotten to feed her buddy at home this morning AND yesterday, and she didn't think that was healthy for someone who had lost so much blood, but Suzie quickly forgot about Freddy when she saw the **_giant alien spaceship_**.

This was definitely the best day ever.

Deepdrive was surprising compliant as the Autobots were taking her to the brig, just really slow. She curiously stared and looked around the base, cooing and the small chairs that were used by the human children, only to pulled away by Bulkhead who continued to half drag, half lead the femme to the brig.

"'Wave will find me, he always does. I'd hate to see what he'd do if you. I haven't been in contact with the rest since we left Cybertron, I wonder if he's missed me?" Deepdrive said casually, sounding disapointed that that she was still being dragged around even though she had come quietly.

"I was aware you were interested him before, I was not aware that he was interested in you." Optimus commented, noticing an unfamiliar familiarity in Deepdrive's voice.

"We're been together for a long time now. It's a shame Pax didn't live to find out, he would have been one of the first to know." It wasn't said directly, but the point was still there, Orion Pax was dead as far as Deepdrive was concerned and had been for a while, probably since Optimus left Megatron.

"Seriously, you and no-face, how does that work out considering that he deleted his emotions for extra processing power?" Arcee asked snidely.

"Considering you haven't been polite enough to introduce yourselves, I guess I'm just going to have to do all the introducing myself," Deepdrive deflected, seeming unaffected by the jab at her supposed partner. She first looked over to Arcee and her optics dimmed.

"Patient number: Two, five, seven, three, eight, two. Designation: Arcee. Femme. Alt-mode: Two-wheeler grounder."

Wasting no time Deepdrive looked to Bulkhead optics diming again.

"Patient number: Eight, three, six, two, five, nine. Designation: Bulkhead. Mech. Alt-mode: Grounder."

To Bumblebee, "Patient number: Nine, five, two, six, two, seven, nine. Designation: Bumblebee. Mech. Alt-mode: Grounder."

And finally Ratchet "Patient number: Three, three, four, two, three, seven. Designation: Ratchet. Mech. Alt-mode: Grounder. Note: Medic." Her optics lightened up again and she made a smile.

"Hello, Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet. My designation is Deepdrive, nice to meet you." She introduced herself, as if she was introducing herself on the street like she hadn't vomited out a weird bunch of files on the people in around her. The human children just stared, slightly jaw-dropped.

"I thought you said you hadn't been in contact with the 'cons, yet you have con files on each of us." Interrogated Bulkhead.

"Negative, I am using your medical files from before the war."

"Just like 'cons to hack the system to gain a tactical advantage. Sounds like a lot of wasted space in your processor, but considering your useless in battle you probably need to make yourself useful to Megatron somehow." Assumed Arcee.

"That's where you are wrong again, I have been medic since long before the war, unlimited access to medical files was necessary for first responders like myself." She paused to grumble "Though I am better equipped to be a processor specialist, despite what the caste system had to say." in a low voice, before she continued, "When the data base started to shut down I made a move to download what I could, never know what you might need, you know? But because before the system went down they were still removing the files of the departed and… the data bases were less than 18% of their original size." Deepdrive's voice held a grave tone to it, and a very heavy mood filled the room.

"Damn 'cons." Muttered Bulkhead, servo gripping harder on her shoulder plates as he pushed her forward. Deepdrive stopped moving for the first time all together.

"That's the unforgivable thing about Autobots. They're completely unwilling to accept responsibility to their part of the war." For the first time since the humans had seen her, Deepdrive's voice was stone cold.

"WE WEN'T THE ONES STARTED THE WAR! WE WEREN'T THE ONES WHO TURNED TO VIOLENCE!" Bulkhead shouted, no screamed. Deepdrive turned to face him.

"All I know is countless mechs have offlined on my table who wouldn't have been sent there the first place I it weren't because some Autobot sent them there. Some were sent in by 'bots in this very room." Deepdrive faced back to the direction she had been lead, "Just take me to the brig." She continued on at a pace faster than before.

KnockOut was a dead mech walking, he was sure of it now. He turned away from the crazy one for just one nanosecond and when he turned back she was gone, and if that vent panel on the floor was anything to go by, she had found he way into the venting system.

You know what? This was a good thing. She was no longer his damn problem, like, what are the chances that Soundwave would be able to track this down to him, right?

...

He better get looking for that damn human.


	4. Chapter 4

The Autobots were discussing the importance of Deepdrive's arrival and what it would mean for them in the future, they were currently discussing the femme's trustworthiness and the dangers of having her on base, specifically if her presence meant if they now required to keep a 'bot on base at all times in case she made an escape attempt. The discussion wasn't getting anywhere anytime soon and Miko was getting very, very bored, and before long her mind was moving on to find other methods of entertainment.

Miko's mind kept going back to the idea of visiting their new guest in the brig. This 'con was oddly friendly and Miko was overflowing with curiosity and slight anticipation. Making sure none of the 'bots weren't paying attention, she slipped away in the direction of the brig.

The 'bots may not have been paying attention, but Jack and Rafael surely were, they had been keeping an eye on Miko knowing that she was probably going to try to do something like this. When he saw Miko head off, Jack hesitated looking up at the 'bots, contemplating on whether or not he should tell them or not, before instead opting to follow her and try to stop her himself, Rafael following him in tow.

"Miko!" Jack whisper shouted at Miko getting her attention, she turned around surprised before grinning.

"Come on, don't tell me you aren't curious?" Before sprinting off.

'Dammit Miko' Jack thought, He and Rafael sprinting off after her.

Miko entered the brig to see Deepdrive sitting against the wall behind the veil of a green-energy force-field. The room in it was bare to limit the objects its prisoner could use as a weapon. All it had was a large slab of concrete for the 'con to use as a large berth.

Miko's curiosity was not disapointed as she got a glimpse of Deepdrive's abnormal servo's, which had appeared to have split apart to reveal a larger variety of tiny –for a Cybertonian that is- tools and instruments that looked like they came straight from a mad-scientist's lab in a sci-fi horror movie. Deepdrive had been using these tools to tinker with her own leg joint in boredom.

Upon seeing the children entering the brig the medic quickly folded up her servo's to their regular weirdness and moved over fifteen feet away from the force-field and knelt to face them.

"Tiny ones, what are you doing here? I hope you don't get in trouble for visiting me like this." Her voice and tone was make to the way it was, no trace of the anger or coldness from before.

Miko waved off Deepdrive's concern, "Nar, don't worry, they'll be okay with this. We, have a few question for you." Miko stated. Deepdrive tilted her helm.

"I too, have questions that you may be able to answer. Perhaps we can trade information, sweetspark." Miko grinned, but Jack narrowed his eyes.

"What… kind of questions." Worried that she may want dangerous information about the Autobots in return.

"Could you please explain to me the 'World Wide Web'." Deepdrive answered with complete seriousness, only allowing the children the time to blink in surprise before she just started pouring out question after question.

"I had a quick look through it before when I used it to learn your language. Why is it so poorly organised? Why is there so many grammatical errors? What do you use it for? Who is authorised access to it? Why are there so many 'cats'? Is 'grumpy cat' okay?" The kids just sat in shock for a few seconds, not certain if the Decepticon in front of them was serious or not.

"Well, um, as for your first question…" Jack began, almost completely at a loss for words.

"The internet lacks a proper structure because unlike from what I have heard about Cybertron's databases, no one group or entity owns it. Anyone has the ability to contribute to it and use it without regulations, which answers your second and forth question…" Rafael began, knowing the most about the technical side of the internet out of the three children.

"Well, as for what it's used for, well its used for a lot of things, sharing of information, communication…" Jack added.

"But most of the time its used for _fun_. That's what the cats are for, people find them entertaining. And as for 'Grumpy Cat' well…" Miko explained stopping when she saw the concern femme's optics, suddenly losing the heart to tell her the truth about the meme's un-realism "He's fine, he um… _likes_ to be grumpy all the time, it's just his thing. Okay, you got to ask your questions, now its our turn."

Deepdrive chuckled, "Go ahead, cutie."

"Why do you talk like that? All mother-like?" Jack asked suddenly, jumping ahead of Miko, he had to be honest that this question had been bugging him for a while.

Deepdrive smiled sadly, "A long, long, time ago before they died, I was the oldest of many siblings, and I gained the habit I suppose, after we all matured I found it had a calming affect on patients. Also, you should see the look on a hardened warrior's face plate when you call _them_ sweetspark."

"Don't tell me you use that tone with the Decepticons." Rafael jumped in, Deepdrive nodded. "Even Megatron?"

"Especially Megsie." A ghost of a sly grin appearing on Deepdrive's face plate.

"Can you show me your hands? Like your tool things from before?" Miko quickly asked, finally getting her first question in. Deepdrive lowered her servos to the ground in front of them and unfolded them, revealing the many different instruments. Miko stared at them all in awe, disapointed that she couldn't get an even closer look.

"I heard you say something about being better suited to being a processor specialist? What exactly is that?" Rafael asked.

"Processor specialists work with processors, the ah, brain, however because of the caste system, I was stuck as a first responder, who were the first mechs and femmes to see a Cybertonian patient in an emergency." Deepdrive leaned back a bit, a look of yearning on her face plate.

"So a processor specialist is kind of like a brain surgeon and you were a first responder which is like, a paramedic. Don't you think it's arrogant of you to think you're qualified for a job like that?" Jack asked, thinking of what he knew from his mother's work. Deepdrive's job didn't seem too different to his mother's, and there was nothing in his mother's job that would make her qualified to be a brain surgeon, well not directly, that is.

"Are… brain surgeons treated as more important to… paramedics?" Deepdrive asked sounding slightly irritated at the accusation, she was used to a caste system where neither of the two jobs held a higher level of importance, they were all just seen as medical grade.

Jack just nodded, not really feeling like explaining it.

"I only think that I am better suited for the role because I am better equipped for it in both frame and in interest. As you can see, the medical instruments in my, ah, hands are a size better suited to dealing with delicate hardware such as processors, besides, I also have these." Deepdrive folded her servos and turned her servos 'palm' side down, extending two tentacle like cords.


	5. Chapter 5

Steve really tried to do well at his job. Being what was supposed to be a 'nameless', but most importantly expendable, vehicon made such things very important. Vehicons who failed in their jobs got thrown out the window, that was if they were grounders, vehicons who could fly got their heads ripped off. Either way, failure was a very unpleasant experience.

That was why he was trying to ignore the sounds coming from the vents and focus on his work manning the groundbridge, as currently his fellow vehicons were transporting energon. However, Steve, like all the other vehicons, had watched human horror films in his off-hours, and had learned from them that creepy noises from vents were something one should be concerned about.

Turning away from the vent to face his station, Steve once again forced himself to focus on his job.

 _BANG!_ Came from the vents, and suddenly, Steve felt something on his back, and just as any reasonable and rational mech would do, he freaked out completely and started shrieking and running around in circles.

 _"_ _Hahahahaha!"_ Creepy, manic human laughter filled the room from coming from the creature on Steve's back, just like from those horror films he and the rest of the vehicons had watched, causing Steve to panic further and also gather the attention of all the other vehicons in the room.

Recognising the laughter that sounded like it came straight from the last horror film the vehicons had watched together, the other vehicons too, acted responsibly, by freaking out, some of the braver ones even making attempts of shooting at the creature on poor Steve's back, but all missing horribly.

It was then that KnockOut entered the room, dread filling his spark as he saw the chaos that this single human that _he_ had brought onto the ship had caused, knowing now for certain, that his finish wouldn't get out of this intact.

It was as Deepdrive extended her tentacle thingies that the Autobots entered the brig. They had noticed that the children had disappeared and had known that to find Miko, and therefor the other two, they only needed to find the most dangerous part of the base, which was currently here.

Seeing the tentacles extended in what would appear to be a threatening position, Bulkhead immediately entered 'battle mode' and pushed his way between the children and the force-field which Deepdrive was imprisoned behind.

"What do you think your doing? You keep away from them!" He bellowed, raising his fists. Deepdrive calmly retracted her tentacles and stood to meet his glare with a concerned glance.

"Do you really believe, that I, a medic, not only trapped behind an energy force-field, but known to have made a Sacred Vow of _Pacifism_ is even capable of being a threat to the tiny creatures here? I really do want to have a look at your processor, if your current medic isn't already doing so, which if that is the case, I would be more that willing to assist in the trea-"

"Don't give me that slag! I know what the Sacred Vow of Pacifism involves, and no-where does it prevent you from terrorising children! What were you trying to do huh, did you think you could threaten your way out of here! So you could-" Bulkhead's interrogation was halted by Miko's shout.

"ENOUGH Bulkhead, she was just answering our questions, she trying to explain to us what they could do."

"Don't get me started on you, Miko, you should know better than to get too close 'cons, especially without one of us around, what if she somehow tricked you into letting her out, end then what if she got out through the groundbridge, she could lead the 'cons right here." Bulkhead continued to wind himself up, so to speak, as he continued talking he got just angrier.

"Hey, don't worry, we were careful, we just answered a few questions, nothing dangerous even, she just wanted to know why the internet is so weird." Jack tried to calm Bulkhead down, and it worked a fraction, but only enough to stop his rant and look over to Optimus.

Optimus looked down on the three children, and then over to Deepdrive, who seemed unaffected by the situation.

"Bumblebee, take the children out of here, we should probably take this as an opportunity to start our own questioning of our guest.

Bumblebee waved the kids out the door. Jack and Rafael looked relieved that they didn't seem to be in too much trouble, but Miko glanced back disapointed that their visit had been cut short.

After they left Deepdrive moved to lean back against the brigs back wall.

"I don't mean to bring them more trouble or anything, but I did ask them if you were okay with them being here and they said you were." Deepdrive spoke quietly.

"We will get back to talking about how you should and should not interact with the children at a later point, right now we want you to tell us what you know of the Decepticons." Optimus spoke with calm confidence.

"You most likely know more than I do. As I said I haven't communicated with them since I left Cybertron way back. My vessels communication systems were damaged as I fled the doomed place. And what I do know is unimportant, unless you wish to learn about the Bromance between Megsie and 'Wave" Deepdrive joked.

"Bromance?" Ratchet asked slowly, not sure that he heard correctly.

"Megsie and 'Wave discuss the stuff 'Wave has recorded over dinner in the privacy of Megsie's quarters. It's enough to make a femme jealous." Deepdrive explained further, and the Autobots couldn't be sure if she was telling the truth or not.

"As interesting as that sounds, that's not the sort of information were after, we want tactical data. Future battle plans, weapons, details on who you have working with you, and we're willing to go into some non-pacifistic ways to get you talking." Arcee threatened moving closer to force-field. Deepdrive raised her servo to her head, and almost faster than the Autobots in front of her could see unfolded and refolded her servo to gain momentary access to and do something with her instruments.

"Go ahead, because of as of just now, my pain sensors are offline, you can go ahead an offline me, because I'm not giving you anything that could endanger my patients."


	6. Chapter 6

"Go ahead, because of as of just now, my pain sensors are offline, you can go ahead and offline me, because I'm not giving you anything that could endanger my patients." Deepdrive's eyes held determination as she stared down the Autobots.

Arcee, however, was not going to allow Deepdrive to win that easily. Not when Deepdrive could have information that could save lives. Not after all the 'cons had done. She turned to face Ratchet.

"Do you think you could turn her pain sensors back on." Ratchet's eyes widened, not believing what he had just been asked to do, but before he could make a response, Deepdrive did.

"You'd take advantage of my Sacred Vow that much. You would fix up a femme's pain sensors just so you could torture her, never mind the fact I can't do a thing to stop you." Deepdrive's motherly tone made it sound like she was scolding a child, which only made what she said more degrading.

"You 'cons don't seem to have any problems with torture, as I would know first hand." Arcee spat back.

"I've had a Vow this whole war, all I've done is do my best to fix up the mechs and femmes that you 'bots send in." The two femmes just glared at each other, and Optimus looked down, as if deep in thought, before he looked back up.

"And what of information of the bioweapons that were created by the Decepticons. We have faced such hazards here on Earth before and faced the possibility of fatalities. Perhaps you might be willing to tell us what you know, at least what to look out for." Optimus proposed.

The other Autobots looked at each other, it was doubtful that Deepdrive would know anything worthwhile about any of the viruses, not when the Decepticons own mainframe on the Nemesis had nothing, and if she did, she had already made it clear that she wouldn't give them anything, which would put them back to where they were before.

However, they didn't know what Optimus did.

They could faintly hear muttering, "I told them not to… no idea that…still existed…but that would mean…" It was Deepdrive, who raised her servos to her face plate and slid them down, movements full of regret, regret for what she was about to do.

"I'll give you the cure to all of the bioweapons that were designed and implemented up until I lost communication with the others." Deepdrive's voice was level, empty of all emotion.

 _What._ There was no way… What Deepdrive was offering almost seemed impossible, back on Cybertron, the Deception's bioweoponry crushed Autobot ranks, offlined thousands, and no medic was ever able to find a cure, and just like that, all those plagues that they had faced before, they would never have to fear again.

"But. But I have a few conditions, and unless you, Optimus Prime, give me your word you will meet them, I'm not giving you anything." Deepdrive continued, staring straight into Optimus' optics.

"How did you even get this information?" Asked Ratchet, it was the question everyone had on their minds. After all, it seemed so unlikely that the chances were that she was lying, and what she was really going to give them a list of poisons.

"Well, I don't know about now, but back on Cybertron I used to be Megsie's go to medic being one of the few he could trust not to stab him in the back. He trusted me with the cures so I could fix him or anyone in the event the plague spread to our ranks." Deepdrive explained and started walking up to the force-field.

"What are your demands?" Asked Optimus, wanting to hear out the entire deal before making a decision.

Arcee's optics widened. "Optimus-"

"Firstly, no Autobot made bioweapons. I'm want to be clear that I'm doing this because I'm a medic, to save lives, not give the Autobots an advantage." Optimus nodded, believing that was reasonable, everyone else agreed.

"Accepted." Optimus gave his verbal agreement.

"Secondly, and I want to be clear on this, you use what I give you to help anyone who needs it, including Decepticons." That was more disagreeable to the Autobots, but still acceptable.

"Acceptable, as long as our assistance isn't met with hostility." Optimus added, his own condition.

"That's acceptable, but you have to make an attempt to communicate that you're trying to help." Deepdrive reflected back.

"Of course."

"Next; I want you to comm. Megatron and tell him you have me here immediately after I transfer the cures."

Optimus took a moment to weigh the options, knowing that Megatron would inevitably make an attempt to retrieve Deepdrive if he knew that the Autobots had her, but on the other servo, Megatron had already been trying to find the Autobots' base.

"Accepted, next condition?"

"I want a cat."

KnockOut was able to calm down the vehicons and take the human back into his custody, but not before Soundwave noticed the commotion and tracked down the human's appearance to him, and before he could even terminate the problematic creature in his servo's, Megatron had summoned him to the bridge, ordering him to bring the human.

As he walked to the bridge the human attempted to climb him, much to his displeasure.

 _The fingerprints._

"So, what exactly is this place?" The human asked.

"You are currently aboard the Nemesis, the Decepticon headquarters, insect." He answered, putting as much contempt in his words as he could, the human didn't seem bothered.

"And who are the Decepticons?"

"The future conquerors of Cybertron."

"Cybertron?"

"Our homeworld."

"And why _future_ conquerors? What's stopping you from taking over right now?"

"Our enemies, the Autobots."

"Who are the Autobots? Why do they want to stop you?"

"They find that our methods break their moral code, they believe that all sentient being deserve freedom and all that. They even have gone so far to ally themselves the human government when they followed us here."

"And why did they do that?" KnockOut was really starting to get frustrated by the humans seemingly countless questions, he growled.

"We don't care how many humans we kill to get what we want, and their leader couldn't stand it if any precious humans died and he didn't do anything to protect them. And of course they couldn't do that without gaining the approval of said humans, no~, everything is the 'strait and narrow' with them."

"So they're all insufferable goodie goodies."

"You could say that again!" KnockOut stopped walking repulsed that he just agreed with a _human_ , and was relieved to see he was only a few paces from the door the bridge, and hurried in.

"KNOCKOUT!" Megatron bellowed.

"Yes, master." KnockOut bowed.

"What made you bring that insect on board!" Megatron loomed over KnockOut. KnockOut considered telling Megatron the truth, but then decided that if Megatron found out he was threatened by a human of all things, he was a goner for certain.

"I-I was going to use it as a test subject, but the nasty thing managed to slip through my grasp, a foolish error, please forgive me, my lord, it won't happen again." KnockOut begged, hoping his lie would be enough and preying to Primus himself that the human wouldn't tell Megatron that he was lying.

"Just dispose of it." Megatron ordered turning away.

The human spoke suddenly, "Well that just seems like a waste of a good opportunity, you know."

Megatron turned back to face the human, almost like he was curious on what the thing had to say.

"It's just a waste of a perfectly good hostage if you ask me," The human continued. "I mean I got a few better ideas, if you're willing to hear them that is."

 **Note: It has just recently come to my attention my divider thingies haven't gone over to the fic, which I don't know why, because I even typed up a pattern instead of just doing the regular line thing, so I will now be adding the divider things on the web editor thing, but do to time reasons, will not add it again to the previous chapters, sorry.**


	7. Chapter 7

"It's just a waste of a perfectly good hostage if you ask me," The human continued. "I mean I got a few better ideas, if you're willing to hear them that is." The human said with a smirk, and all KnockOut and Starscream -who was also in the bridge- could do was stare as this little human saved herself from termination more expertly then they ever could.

"And what ideas would those be." Megatron challenged back at the human, thinking that there was nothing that this human could possibly think of that was better than what he could.

"I heard that your enemy leader is a goodie-goodie who acts on what those 'sane' people call a 'conscience'." The human started, using bunny ears and all. "Well, I was thinking, you could trade me of for something, and he would have to go for it, because that's what goodie-goodies do, trust me, I've played the sweet-sweet hostage card before, and the cops fell all over that. Obviously, you can't play me for something too big, but hey, you could trade me for something, and something is always better than nothing. Well except for cops, which in that case, nothing is always better." The human girl ended with a crazed grin, as if this was all a big game to her, and that the giant, threatening, alien, robot in front of her did not just order her death.

Megatron sneered, "And what could I possibly trade you for that's worth the time, you're not even one of the human children they keep as pets, you're barely worth anything."

The human giggled, "He's a goodie-goodie, silly! The whole reason goodie-goodies are annoying in the first place is because it doesn't matter if they know whose life is on the line or not, that's why they're always jumping in to ruin your fun." The human smirked, her grin growing from crazed to homicidal.

"Besides, there's something that you can rely on that they don't know; I'm a homicidal maniac that's a danger to everyone around me and should definitely be nowhere near children."

Megatron looked down on the human and smirked, "This human might not be too bad to keep around for a while after all. KnockOut, you're in charge of keeping her alive the next few days."

KnockOut tried to keep himself from groaning.

The Autobots were currently going through the necessary channels with Agent Fowler to get Deepdrive a cat. It took a little discussion, but it was agreed that they didn't need to worry about Deepdrive hurting the cat, as unsurprisingly, most animals were protected by her Sacred Vow, and with that being said, the trouble and cost of looking after said cat seemed like a petty reason to back out of the deal.

Of course, why she wanted the cat in the first place was discussed, and it was unanimously agreed that it was all Miko's fault.

Agent Fowler himself needed a little convincing, but when told what was being offered for trade in return, he understood, sort off. He still wasn't buying that the 'con only wanted the cat because Miko had casually mentioned how humans found them entertaining.

But, it did on some crazy level made sense. Deepdrive was stuck in the brig and had nothing to do. Everyone was aware that her mate Soundwave kept company with drones which kept as symbiotes, which were the closest things that Cybertonians had for pets back on Cybertron, and everyone was uncomfortably aware how curious Deepdrive was of humans and small things. So, it actually made sense that she would want to keep herself busy with a tiny alien pet.

There was also the problem of who was going to tell Deepdrive how she was supposed to look after the cat, as Deepdrive obviously had no clue, and neither did the Autobots.

Miko had enthusiastically offered when it was brought up, but the 'bots, especially Bulkhead were hesitant at letting Miko get too close to Deepdrive again.

Whenever Miko got too close to Deepdrive, bad things happened, at least in the eyes of the 'bots. When Miko got close for the first time she got grabbed which ended up causing a panic. When Miko snuck into the brig it caused another panic and accidently lead to the whole cat problem in the first place.

They really didn't want to add anything else to that list.

But, Miko really wanted to help and she was the only one on base who had past experience looking after a cat before. So it was finally agreed that Miko could help as long as Bulkhead was there the entire time that the two were together.

Miko thought it was stupid, because they all knew Deepdrive could hurt her even if she wanted to, and also Deepdrive was really nice, at least to the children anyway. Miko could see that Deepdrive disapproved of the Autobots just as much as they disapproved of the Decepticons.

Miko got it, sort off anyway. Deepdrive was obviously kept away from the battlefield because of her complete uselessness in that area, so Deepdrive didn't get to see the terrible things the Decepticons did to get what they want. What Deepdrive did see though, was all her buddies coming back hurt or worse, and it was her job to fix them up. Miko knew she wouldn't care why someone hurt Bulkhead or Jack or Rafael if someone ever did, especially if Miko wasn't there to see it happen, Miko knew she would just hate them for doing it.

But there was the whole thing that Deepdrive had against Optimus that Miko didn't understand. Miko could clearly see that Deepdrive had something personal against Optimus, and she wanted to figure it out. By now, it was obvious that Deepdrive knew Optimus before the war, before he was a prime even, and she didn't just know him either, they seemed to have been friends.

Miko was going to start there, she was going to find out what happened, and then, she was going to fix it make them friends again, she was sure of it.


	8. Chapter 8

The moment that Deepdrive saw the cat she was in love. He was orange with black strikes and despite being incredibly tiny to the femme, was fully grown.

Against all logic to the Autobots, the cat didn't show any fear towards the Decepticon at all, in fact, he seemed to really like Deepdrive, and had climbed straight into her servo upon sight of the femme.

"You have to be careful with human pets, unlike drones on Cybertron they can go 'squish' all too easily." Ratchet grumbled. He had felt the need to stay present during the cat and the femme's introduction to each other, aware that there was over a hundred things that could go wrong that would result in the poor thing's untimely demise. Though, he couldn't understand why any Cybertonian would bother keeping a creature that barely lasted two decivorns.

"Aww, you don't have to worry about that," Deepdrive cooed, optics never leaving the incredibly small creature in her servo, which was currently trying to climb one of her digits. "Like you, I'm a medic, which means a simple basic scan of this little guy tells me what his little body can handle, and that tied with my Sacred Vow means my processor automatically prevents me from doing anything I know what will harm this cutie wootie."

Ratchet growled. "Well… we got you the creature, now give us what you promised." He demanded.

"Datapad please." She asked, not even paying attention as she lifted her other servo slightly above the digit that the cat had climbed and watched him with fascination as he jumped up onto it.

Ratchet presented the datapad with annoyance, wishing that the femme would take this a bit more seriously.

He had been expecting her to type out the formulas by servo, but he was surprised when she extended one of her tentacles and attached it to the datapad while it was still in his hands, and directly downloaded the files into it.

"So they can transfer information directly to and from your processor, but, could that mean…" Ratchet trailed off, a theory developing in his processor.

"That's right, they can also connect to Cybertonian processors, you wouldn't believe how helpful it is when you've got angry patients to deal with, with these I can manually send the poor mechs into recharge without even needing medical supplies. Just imagine what good they could have done back on Cybertron if they made me a processor specialist." Deepdrive's voice was calm, as she was too distracted to be get too upset by what she was saying this time, and Ratchet could agree with her that they would have done a lot good.

However, the bad that they could do in this war outweighed any positive thoughts Ratchet had on the matter. If it weren't for Deepdrive's Sacred Vow, she could have been absolutely devastating on the battle field, that was if she wasn't stupid about it. With what those tentacles could do, Ratchet could imagine Deepdrive rushing through lines of 'bots, shutting down multiple vital systems at a time 'bot by 'bot, relentlessly. He shuddered at the thought.

"There, all done!" Deepdrive interrupted his thoughts. "Now you better comm. Megsie like you promised, and if it's not too much trouble, could you please apologise to him for me, he won't show it but I know he'll be worried." Ratchet briskly left the brig, closing the force-field behind him. Deepdrive's casual attitude towards the oppressive enemy leader just got on his nerves.

LINElineLINE

KnockOut hurried to the bridge as fast as he could while trying not to accidentally kill the human clinging to his pedes. He had just started to get use to mad creature causing havoc in his med-bay when he and the human had been summoned to the bridge by a Megatron that sounded angrier than usual.

When he entered the bridge he just managed to dodge to vehicon being thrown across the room. Yea, Megatron was definitely angrier than he was this morning.

"Eh… Lord Megatron? You summoned." KnockOut spoke carefully. Megatron snapped his attention to KnockOut, and charged over to him just stopping short of crashing into him.

"I have finally found out what we can trade our little human for. The Autobots have a hostage." He growled, glancing down at the creature clinging to KnockOut's leg.

"Hostage… Who? What happened to our policy of giving up on those 'weak' enough to get captured?" KnockOut spoke without thinking, remembering how they had all abandoned Breakdown when he was captured by MECH.

Megatron snarled, "Deepdrive's value is not in physical strength, but rather the information she holds and her skills as medic."

KnockOut didn't know why he was arguing, honestly, he would LOVE for the human to go, and he wouldn't mind having help patch up the countless vehicons that ended up in his med-bay, especially with Breakdown gone. But he found himself angry that Megatron was treating this Deepdrive as more important than he had Breakdown, and instead of reacting the way he usually would have or thinking through things clearly, he just found himself insulted that Megatron even thought this femme's medical skills were even necessary.

"I don't understand why this Deepdrive is so important, I am both capable enough on the battle field not to get myself captured and can fix up every slagging 'con that finds themselves on my table. This Deepdrive doesn't even seem worth the effort to me." KnockOut's rage suddenly ceased from the pure shock that came from Soundwave's sudden appearance looming over his shoulder. He hadn't up until know noticed that Soundwave was even in the room, and Soundwave just seemed more unnerving that usual, and just like that, all arguments were over.

"Right, of course sir." He muttered.


	9. Chapter 9

**Warning: The ratings for this fic have changed to T because of violence in this chapter. Only bare basic details are described, but the scene hints to something darker.**

After much argument between Miko and Bulkhead, with Deepdrive awkwardly listening, Miko was sitting in Deepdrive's side of the force-field explaining who much food to feed the cat and how to play with the various toys that Miko brought over. Deepdrive was listening intently, content smile on her face.

Bulkhead was on the other side of the force-field, watching with a bored expression. He just wanted this to be finished already.

"So, how did you, Orion Pax and Megatron become friends?" Miko suddenly asked, causing Bulkhead to scrabble to attention in shock.

"Miko!" He scolded sternly, not sure how Deepdrive would react, after she had been so sensitive on the topic before.

"I'll tell you sweetspark, but it's a long story, so you should probably sit down." Miko nodded and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of Deepdrive. Deepdrive turned to Bulkhead, "You too dear, you're going to be listening anyway, and I can give several reasons why standing up for so long is bad for your Cables." Bulkhead hesitantly sat too, uncertain.

Deepdrive smiled before sitting too.

 _"_ _I first met Megsie while doing my job as a first responder. My division was in the city Kaon, so more often than not we were sent to the Gladiatorial Pits. Their injuries were always just so terrible… I was barely adjusted to my third frame and I was having sparks slip through my fingers. It wasn't suited for that kind of job, and I think Megsie could tell, though I'm not sure how, it was probably because I was the youngest but I never bothered to ask. Whenever I was on duty he'd refuse the other medics and scare 'em off, only letting me go near enough to fix him up, because he was undefeated, when I was patching him up, there was never a risk of my patient offlining on me, a small comfort._

 _I know what your thinking, but war changes people, and Megsie back then was very passionate about helping people that were put down by the caste system._

 _We never talked, we were just aware of each other. A vorn after I met him he started to gain followers, but nothing too much at the time. I knew of it, but I never thought much of it at the time._

 _That was until the Fall of Deoblon,"_ At this part Bulkhead looked up in recognition.

 _"_ _It is unbelievable how different things would be today if not for just this one, awful event. Deoblon was a small residential area in Kaon where me and my family lived. I had five younger sisters and one younger brother. Our creators were long dead, so my brother and I looked after the rest who were still in their second frames. As a first responder I had odd hours, and while I was on shift one day, the entire place lit up in flames. Not spark escaped._

 _Families were outraged, the High Council said that they would get to the bottom of it, but they never did. Megsie with his followers wanted to use this to expose the High Council, and I joined them._

 _Because Megsie recognised me, he wanted to use me as a face for the victims. I didn't have a place to stay, so he let me live with him and 'Wave._

 _That was I met 'Wave, even then I adored him. He was Megsie's best friend, and a quiet one, but he always had Megsie's back, and I liked that._

 _Megsie was really interested in the kind of person I was, especially after he found out my Sacred Vow…_

"I don't think I'm going to be able to speak in front of everyone tomorrow, and definitely not the council, Megatronus, I'm not strong like you." Said Deepdrive, optics lowered. Megatronus wanted her to speak out in front of the High Council the next Orn and she was very nervous, scared even, of what the High Council might do.

Deepdrive was sitting in a chair in Megatronus and Soundwave's apartment, Megatronus was standing in front of her, and Soundwave was standing silently by the door.

"Of course you are, if you were in the gladiatorial pits, I'm confident you could stand your ground, you could win." Megatronus tried to encourage Deepdrive, the only way he knew how.

"B-but, but I'm just a medic!" Deepdrive shrieked at the idea of fighting in the Gladiatorial pits, she had seen first-hand what happed to mechs in there.

"That just means you know where to hit the cause the most damage!" Megatronus argued in a friendly tone.

Deepdrive shuddered at the idea. "I think that would be the complete opposite of what I was thinking when my Sacred Vow of Pacifism."

"A Sacred Vow…" whispered Megatron in shock, Sacred Vows were well known, but rarely someone met someone who had actually made one, even Soundwave's vow of silence was just a regular vow.

"People act like it's big deal, but to me it makes no difference. As a medic, I shouldn't be hurting people in the first place, not when it's my job to fix them."

 _…_ _Megsie was curious what kind of person would be so committed to a job that had been forced on them to make a Vow. We got talking, and we just ended up becoming friends before we even realised it._

 _I have only ever regretting making my Sacred Vow once, and that was probably one of the worst moments of my life. While most Cybertonians would say that theirs was seeing Cybertron lifeless for the first time, but I can say nothing was more terrifying than that time I went home by myself that night._

 _I won't go into detail, you're a child and you shouldn't hear it, but believe me there is nothing more horrifying than being attacked alone, in a dark alley, and being completely unable to defend yourself. Not because your attacker is stronger than you, though they were, but because your own mind won't let you do anything that could hurt them. All I could do was scream, and prey that there was someone out there that would do something._

 _Luckily for me there was. 'Wave was heading home the same way as I was that night, and recognised my voice from the screams._

 _'_ _Wave was a gladiator, almost if not just as good as Megsie, so the mechs attacking me that night didn't last three cycles. Just like that the nightmare was over, and 'Wave was my hero._

 _Let's just say if I had a crush on him before, by now I was absolutely smitten._

 _'_ _Wave took me home, not saying a word, yet still Megsie found out, and just like that, I wasn't allowed to go home by myself anymore._

 _Not much long later, I found myself at one of Megsie rallies, I was no longer a big speaker anymore, so I stood in the masses. There were mechs and femmes everywhere…_

Deepdrive could barely stay still with everyone constantly bumping into each other, forget seeing Megsie. Deepdrive always hated this part of the rallies, but she wanted to give Megsie her support, so she came anyway.

Then came the inevitable too-hard shove that sent the femme crashing from to the floor, with pedes going everywhere, Deepdrive had to curl into a ball to keep herself from getting stepped on. She offlined her optics and prepared for the inevitable pain.

But the pain never came… she onlined her optics to see a blue and red mech as tall as Megatronus leading everyone away from her by guiding them away from her with his servos. When there was enough room, he lent down and offered Deepdrive his servo.

"My designation is Orion Pax, are you alright?" He asked sleepily.

 **We're only halfway through the story, can you see why I had to cut off the last chapter early?**


	10. Chapter 10

_"In gratitude, I bought Pax lunch after the rally, I had nothing else to do for the day, and I had to wait until Megsie and 'Wave were finished doing their thing before I could head home._

 _Pax was… shy, and a little awkward, and was obsessed with the ancient histories of the Primes. This became apparent when I accidently got him started on the subject and he was still going on mega-cycles later when Megsie and 'Wave came to take me home._

"… and that was how the Forge of Solus Prime came into existence." Orion Pax explained. Deepdrive forced a smile, this half-sided conversation had started out by her asking about the prime Megsie' name himself after and somehow it had ended here and she had no idea how to politely tell him that she wasn't interested anymore.

Thankfully she saw Megatronus and Soundwave heading over and used him as her escape. Deepdrive stood up from their table and waved over to him.

"Hey Megsie!" Megatronus smirked, glancing at Orion and pack at Deepdrive, eyebrow raised. Orion on the other hand, had his optics wide, a little star-struck.

As Megatronus approached the table, Deepdrive explained herself.

"This is Orion Pax, he helped me out when the crowds at the rally almost squished me in their stampede. So I offered him lunch as a thank you." Megatronus nodded and turned to Orion.

"Thanks for helping Deepdrive, she's a friend of mine and it would've a lot of trouble scraping her from the floor." Megatron joked.

 _Pax looked up to Megsie, and Megsie was happy to have Pax around, because well, Pax was good to talk to. He was polite and genuine and kind, and could talk about ethics as long as Megsie could, which trust me, was a long time. He was just a little naive. Pax ended up spending more and more time with us, and before we knew it, Pax was living with us too._

 _I was happy, it was like I had a family again, Pax reminded me of my brother and I went full mother hen on everyone, but at the same time, it was like Pax and I were the children of the family. Megsie and Soundwave were rather protective over Pax and I, Pax because had absolutely no clue what to do in a fight, and me for obvious reasons._

 _Megsie somehow increase the protectiveness over us when Pax got mugged on his way to work. Knowing someone unable to defend themselves entirely getting so badly hurt was one thing, but Pax was bigger and taller than I and actually had a chance but he got badly hurt too. It just came to show how dangerous Kaon was becoming._

 _Escorting me home at night became escorting both of us everywhere except when we were at work. When both Megsie and 'Wave were busy, Megsie had one of his followers, Dreadwing, come with us. We ended up going out less, not wanting to cause trouble._

 _Both Pax and Megsie quickly discovered my crush on 'Wave and teased me about it all the time, going through all sorts of jokes and pranks trying to get me to confess, and I had to endure all of it, unwilling to let my precious secret slip._

 _Pax started to become more and more prominent in the movement, and that was when Megsie started to bring Pax with him to see the High Council._

 _Again and again Megsie would speak outside the High Council with his followers, demanding to speak with them, and yet the never listened, they never changed._

 _However, they finally allowed him to speak with them, but Megsie had had enough, he told the High Council that if they wouldn't change, then perhaps it was necessary for a change in leadership, even if force was necessary._

 _Pax, however, disagreed with Megsie, in front of the council, he told Megsie violence wasn't the answer, and if Megsie would continue down that path, Pax would not go with him._

 _The high council had heard Pax, and they chose to side with him. They made claims that Pax had shown that he was worthy of being a prime, that with him to lead them, they would move down the right path._

 _Pax listened to them, and joined with them. He believed that they honestly would change. Even though they had made promises like these to fix things before… Megsie was disapointed in him, I could tell, but rather than saying something he would regret, he left without a word, 'Wave following._

 _I couldn't move._

 _Pax offered for me to join him, and it was so hard. I more than anyone wanted to avoid violence, but… I had to remember Deoblon, what happened to my family and how then too, the High Council made shiny promises that they never followed through._

 _I couldn't do it. So, I too left, and I never saw Pax again._ So, was that what you wanted to know, little one? You wanted to know what happened between us right?" Deepdrive asked Miko, small smile on her face, but optics sad.

"Wait. What? How?" Miko asked, surprised that she had been caught.

"Five younger sisters, two younger brothers. Believe it or not, I can smell mischief by now."

Miko put her head down, a wee bit embarrassed, but nodded.

"What I want to know is why." Deepdrive asked without asking.

"Never mind. It can be fixed." Miko said sadly, she had a lot to think about.

"Fix Miko? What are you talking about?" Bulkhead asked, concerned. Deepdrive caught on.

"Oh, sweetie, that was very nice of you to try, but some friendships can't be fixed, nor do they want to be. Now, can I please have some time to myself? We can talk again later, if the Autobots allow, but right now, I just want to be alone."

Miko nodded, and Bulkhead let her out. He sent a nod in Deepdrive's direction, before ushering Miko out.

Deepdrive still sat on the floor, and lightly pet the cat she had yet to name, deep in thought, remembering that afternoon after 'Wave, Megsie and herself had went home just the three of them for the first time, in a long time.

 _"We're going to have to fight Pax aren't we Megsie?" Deepdrive asked softly._

 _Megatron nodded, "I don't want to either, but if he stands with the High Council…"_

 _"How could he listen to them so easily? He knows that the High Council has made promises before. How could this happen?" Deepdrive had her head hung low, it felt like there was a hole in her spark. She flinched when she felt a sudden weight on her shoulder looking up to see it was one of Soundwave's tentacles._

 _"Maybe one day, when this all over, we can talk it over." Megatron supposed._

 _"He probably hates me." Deepdrive sobbed._

 _"I'm sure he doesn't." Megatron placed a servo on her shoulder._

 _They went the rest of the way home in silence._


	11. Chapter 11

Deepdrive was carefully feeding Remix, the cat that the Autobots had gotten for her. Deepdrive had had a hard time finding a name for the ball of fluff, she had wanted to give him a human name, but her time with Miko yesterday had been cut short and Deepdrive didn't know any herself. She couldn't let the poor guy go without a name for much longer, so she ended up settling for the first Cybertonian name she could think of.

Remix… she must be feeling sentimental…

She hoped that if the little guy was still alive by the time Megatron and Soundwave found her they'd like him. He would be, they would take long. She hoped.

The kids were nice and all, but the Autobots didn't let them see her, and the Autobots themselves didn't tend to visit, which was a good thing in a way, but Deepdrive got lonely when she didn't have someone to fuss over.

She was almost happy to see Optimus enter the brig, but any hope of that was shattered with the scowl on his face. He was angry about something.

 _Pax wouldn't scowl at her like that_. A side thought, a little sparkling-like, but it was all she could do to stay resliant. Story-time yesterday had made her emotional, well, more emotional than usual.

Optimus looked at Deepdrive with a calculating gaze.

"Did you plan for this to happen?" He asked, out of nowhere, at least for Deepdrive. He was having a hard time with this too. He wanted to believe that the femme in front of him was Deepdrive as he knew her, trust-worthy and completely harmless, but Megatron had changed, so could she.

"Plan for what?" Deepdrive asked concerned, having no clue what was going on.

"Megatron has taken a human hostage, he's asking for a trade." Optimus continued to scan Deepdrive's face plate, but anger was visible within his blue optics.

Now Deepdrive looked really concerned, "Which of the children did he take?" _No, Megsie, please…_ Deepdrive hoped Megatron hadn't hurt any of the kids, but she knew he had a temper whenever Pax or herself was put in danger. Of course, not so much Pax anymore.

"The children are safe, it appears that he has taken a civilian woman." Deepdrive went from concerned to sceptical.

"What did you _tell_ him that you were doing to me?" Optimus was surprised by Deepdrive's question.

"I don't understand." Deepdrive shook her head, not accepting that as an answer.

"Megsie wouldn't do something like this."

Optimus grumbled, could Deepdrive really be that blind? "Megatron has taken hostages in the past."

"Not neutrals. Megsie doesn't like getting people who aren't already involved on the table, it causes too many loose ends. If you don't know the hostage…" Deepdrive stepped back and looked down, speaking aloud some of bits of her thoughts.

"He wouldn't have gone out and chosen a neutral as o hostage, 'Wave would have picked a more valuable hostage… Maybe Starscream… yeah, Starscream."

As Deepdrive seemed to have come to a conclusion on her own, Optimus took a moment to watch her, before deciding to move on, convinced that she hadn't appeared to plan this.

"I'm taking you to the trading point." Deepdrive nodded absentmindedly, looking up to pay attention.

As she followed Optimus out of the brig and towards the Groundbridge, Deepdrive's attention was brought to the human children.

"Come on! Can't you let us come, just so we can say goodbye?" Whined Miko.

"Absolutely not, it's too dangerous." Ratchet denied. Miko looked down sadly, but Jack decided to give it a shot.

"If this woman has been kidnapped by Decepticons, chances are she's going to be scared of you guys too, we may know different but she might not. It would be a good idea if there was somebody that was less threatening there for her to know it's safe. I mean, it could cause trouble if she ran away during the trade off." Miko looked up, eyes suddenly filled with hope.

Ratchet hesitated, "Well, um… Optimus?" He looked over to Optimus for assistance.

Optimus offered Ratchet no help, "Jack does make a point, let the children come."

Ratchet sighed, but stepped out of the way as the three children ran up to the Groundbridge.

And together, they went in.

LineLINEline

They were in a clearing within a forest. On one side, Megatron, Soundwave and KnockOut stood, with a scared looking human woman. On the other, getting out of the Groundbridge, came Optimus, Bulkhead, Arcee, Deepdrive and the three children.

Upon seeing Megatron and Soundwave, Deepdrive perked up, "Hey Megsie! Hey 'Wave! I missed you two!" She shouted across the field, grinning.

Megatron allowed a slight smile on his face once seeing her unharmed, before quickly hiding it with a scowl. Soundwave remained unreadable.

"We shall send out hostage, and at the same time, you send yours." Megatron demanded. Optimus nodded.

KnockOut removed the bindings around the human woman's wrists, and sent her forward, and without hesitation, she headed calmly, almost too calmly, towards the Autobots.

Deepdrive had no bindings, so she started to make her way straight over. Her spark brightened when she saw that the human looked unharmed, glad that nobody was hurt because of her, but just to be certain, as they were approaching each other, she made a scan on the woman.

Suddenly, without warning, Deepdrive shot down and picked up the human.

The Autobots, assuming that this was a terrible trick on the Decepticons part, aimed the weapons at Deepdrive.

"Deepdrive!" Rumbled Megatron, aggravated that Deepdrive had placed her own rescue at risk.

Deepdrive remained undisturbed, making to aggressive or defensive movements. "Megsie… this human is terribly ill." Voice full of concern.

The Autobots hesitated a second, not lowering their weapons, but now unsure of the maliciousness of Deepdrive's actions.

"I'm scanning multiple chemical imbalances in her brain, that's dangerous for hu- ahhh!" Suzie, the human in Deepdrive's servo, had gotten impatient as Deepdrive ruined her fun, and had chosen to take out her concealed blade and stab Deepdrive's servo.

Deepdrive's reflexes would have forced her to drop the human, but her Sacred Vow would allow her as the fall would hurt the human. Stuck in surprised confusion, all Deepdrive found herself doing is shrieking in pain as Suzie used her knife to tear apart Deepdrive's hand.

The Autobots frozen in shock, unable to comprehend what was going on in front of them, the children's eyes wide in horror, as they then recognised Suzie's face from T.V., a serial killer who had been completely of the radar the past week.

Deepdrive finally managed to lower her hand enough to drop the human without hurting her before stepping away, towards the Decepticons.

The Autobots were brought out of their shock when Megatron blasted the human with his cannon, leaving a small crater in the dirt.

Deepdrive hurried over to the Deceptions as the two teams stood, glaring at each other.


	12. Chapter 12

The two rival factions stood at opposite sides of the clearing, glaring at each other, waiting for each other to make the first move. Neither team wanted to go on the offensive for once, as they both had defenseless allies that they were unwilling to bring into the cross fire.

It was Optimus, who broke the silence. "Megatron, what kind of treachery is this?"

Megatron wasn't backing down, wasn't showing weakness, smirking he answered, "A miscalculation on my part. I couldn't allow for the insect to live after damaging my most valuable medic."

KnockOut made a jealous glance at Deepdrive, who had been staring at the crater. She blamed herself, she hadn't wanted the human to die.

Deepdrive forced herself to look up, and made a quick glance at the nervous looking children, then to Optimus, then to Megatron, then to Soundwave.

"You knew that the human was dangerous, were you hoping for the human to attack our human allies? A cunning and vile move." Optimus concluded.

Megatron smirked, knowing what would sting, "I have to give the credit to the human, it was her plan. Too bad she messed it up by attacking one of my officers."

The point struck where it was intended, and Optimus was unable to stop a cringe. It was sometimes forgotten by the Autobots that humans weren't all good, even with the existence of MECH, the idea of ordinary, civilian, humans being so disturbingly cruel and savage had been pushed to the side.

"We cannot allow this to get away with this…" Optimus growled.

Megatron chuckled darkly, "Why, Optimus, by all means, give me your best shot."

Deepdrive seeing where this was going glanced between the two mechs arguing and the human children, who also got nervous realizing where this was going.

Deepdrive heard a Groundbridge opening up from behind her and turned to see Soundwave motioning her towards it, giving one last look at the children, Deepdrive waved to them in farewell and fled through the Groundbridge.

Losing his empty burden, Megatron grinned and charged towards the Autobots, right towards Optimus.

lineLINEline

Deepdrive was welcomed onto the Nemesis by Dreadwing, a nostalgic sight which she found out that had only just very recently taken the position of second in command, a decision she could very much agree with. Starscream was a… troubled child, but that did not excuse his bad habit of trying to overthrow Megatron.

"It is so good to see you again dear, I'm glad that you're okay. Is 'Quake here on earth too?" Deepdrive asked.

Dreadwing looked down saddened, "My brother is now one with the Allspark."

Deepdrive nodded empathically, understanding, "I'm so sorry to hear that… he had been so kind."

Dreadwing leads Deepdrive to the bridge, where he told her that she would meet with Megatron and Soundwave when they returned, before leaving to return to his own duties.

Deepdrive smiled, that was just like Dreadwing.

Whatever was happening back there was taking a while, and Deepdrive found herself sitting on the armrest on Megatron's throne when a Groundbridge finally opened and Megatron, Soundwave, and KnockOut came out.

No longer being surrounded by the enemy and out of danger, Deepdrive smiled and ran over to Soundwave and engulfed him in a hug.

To anyone who didn't know them well, the hug would have looked incredibly awkward, as Soundwave stood still not returning the hug at all while Deepdrive squeezed with all her might. But to someone like Megatron, it was easy to see how Soundwave had relaxed a little and could tell that the affection was returned.

Soundwave just really hated showing affection in public. Or anyone that he didn't trust completely. Megatron was sure that things would be a completely different story once they were in private.

After what KnockOut had felt was a rather awkward minute, Deepdrive released her hold on Soundwave and looked at the three with a more serious look, "Casualty report." She requested sternly, quickly giving them a basic scan.

KnockOut grunted, "No-one besides you today got hurt today beautiful." But Deepdrive could very easily tell that 'beautiful' was in no way a compliment, KnockOut was commenting on her uselessness, but Deepdrive chose to ignore the jab.

"Megsie, you better not have hurt those kids." Deepdrive turned to Megatron.

Megatron shook his head, exasperated, but not angry, almost impossible to distinguish to the untrained eye. "No, the Autobots' pets were not harmed, unfortunately, neither were any of the Autobots."

Deepdrive looked at Megatron for a few seconds, "… Megsie, you didn't need to shoot that woman."

Megatron growled, "She tore apart your servo."

Deepdrive dipped her head feeling that the 'poor girl's death was partially her fault, but despite that, she couldn't help smile, Megatron was being overprotective as usual.

KnockOut was carefully watching their interactions, slowly recognizing the familiarity that they shared, and coming to an understanding that Deepdrive's value was a more personal value than an objective one. Whatever relationship that Megatron and Deepdrive shared wasn't obvious, as the only real sign of it coming from Megatron was his willingness to allow Deepdrive to get away with talking to him so friendlily.

Megatron continued speaking, "Which reminds me, KnockOut!"

KnockOut flinched a little in surprise, "Yes, Lord Megatron?"

"Fix Deepdrive's servo immediately."

Deepdrive could see KnockOut's reluctance and suddenly felt uncomfortable with the idea of this mech fixing her up. "Megsie, I can fix my servo by myself."

Bad move, now KnockOut looked upset that she had said that he was unnecessary, because he was. Megatron gave Deepdrive a stern look, and Deepdrive reluctantly nodded and headed to the med bay with KnockOut.

LINElineLINE

KnockOut sat Deepdrive down on the med-bay table brought over his tools before taking a look at her damaged servo before realizing he wasn't quite sure how to fix the weirdly shaped servo.

Catching him staring, Deepdrive spoke up, "I know, my servos are weird. If… If you want I can give you some schematics of what they should be like… they look weird like this because I have smaller medical tools and…" Deepdrive stopped herself realizing she was rambling. She was a bit of a mess now, that the opinions of those around her mattered. If the 'bots hated her or thought she was odd she could live with that, and she was self-conscious around them because of that, but with other 'cons, she couldn't dismiss their opinions so easily. She _wanted_ them to like her.

KnockOut sighed, "Don't worry, while I may not wholly be a medic, I can still fix something as minor as this."

Deepdrive panic a little, realising that she may have made things worse, "I don't think you can be a medic if you fight! Scrap, I meant _can't_ , can't. I don't think you can't be a medic you fight. I just don't, because I can't."

KnockOut rolled his optics, "Yes, I saw how useless you were earlier when I saw you letting that human do this to your servo. I mean, come on, even the least capable vehicon would be able to drop the thing." He said, ignoring the incident from before.

Deepdrive scrambled to explain herself, "I couldn't drop her, I physically couldn't, a fall from that height would have hurt her, so dropping her would have violated my Sacred Vow."

"Sacred Vow?" KnockOut remarked. Suddenly Deepdrive's complete uselessness earlier started to make sense, and become more understandable, now that it wasn't due to a lack of competence.

Deepdrive smiled a little, "People act like it's big deal, but to me it makes no difference. To me as a medic..." She began. Everyone's reaction was always the same.


	13. Chapter 13

Once Deepdrive's servo was fixed, she was cleared to leave the med bay. Unsure what to do for a few moments, as she realized she had yet to be given any duties to attend to, she decided to check on Soundwave and Megatron. Checking her internal chronometer, she knew exactly where to go.

When arriving at the door to Megatron's quarters, Deepdrive didn't even bother knocking and instead used one of her tentacles to hack the lock and walk in.

Startled by the unauthorized entry, Megatron and Soundwave turned to the doorway ready for a fight, but relaxed when they saw that it was just Deepdrive.

Deepdrive smiled a little, "I figured you wouldn't mind if I butted into your meeting just this once."

Megatron smiled openly, "You have always been welcome."

Deepdrive rolled her optics, " _Sure_ I am." She made her way to the two standing in the middle of the room. She was only a little bit shocked when Soundwave snaked his tentacles around her waist and tugged her towards him like a fishing rod. She found herself back against his chassis and facing Megatron as Soundwave circled his arms around her chassis, not removing his tentacles.

Soundwave silently took the servo which had been damaged and looked it over. On it remained a few weld marks, but otherwise no lasting damaged.

"KnockOut did a good job considering how odd they are. I'm going to see if I can buff the weld marks, but if I can't it's no biggie if I can't." Deepdrive assured. "I'm safe now."

Soundwave nodded and released her servo.

"Conniving insect," Megatron grumbled, staring at the servo, completely insulted that the human had broken his trust.

Deepdrive felt her mood drop, remembering something that had been bothering her since she had left the brig.

"I think… I think that's how the Autobots see us. Untrusty and violent. I honestly think it's cleverer to rely on brain rather than brawn but… I can't forget the look in Pa-Optimus' optics when he came to release me from the brig. I could see it in his optics, he thought I had planned for to…" Deepdrive stopped her train of thought shifting. "Oh, I'm so sorry Megsie, you trusted me to keep the data on the viruses from the enemy and I-. I was scared, they were threatening to torture information about you guys out of me, and then Optimus Prime played me for my ideals as a medic, and I'm so sorry."

Deepdrive had offlined her optics not wanting to see Megatron's face plate, and prepared herself to be yelled at, but was surprised to hear chuckling, so she onlined them.

"Deepdrive, we have long stopped relying on the viruses for our victory, the information you gave them was useless. Though it was a good way to keep them off your back." Deepdrive relaxed a little, glad that she hadn't disappointed her friend, but then…

"Then why did Optimus Prime ask for them if they are so useless?" The question hit everyone like a bullet with the implications that came with it. The idea that Optimus had purposely allowed Deepdrive off the hook was…

Deepdrive broke the silence by changing the subject, "I want to introduce you to my new friend!" She said in a cheerier voice, opening her sparkling hold in her chassis to reveal Remix, who meowed hungrily. "His name is Remix! Isn't he cute?"

Soundwave tilted his head over Deepdrive's shoulder, observing the cat.

Deepdrive glanced back to him, speaking with a bittersweet tone "He reminds ya' of a smaller Ravage, doesn't he?" Soundwave nodded slightly. They both missed the Cybercat deeply, he had gone missing one Cybertron further than Soundwave's symbiote link allowed him to sense him. All the couple could do was hope that he was unharmed.

Megatron looked at Remix suspiciously, "Looks like a little pest to me."

"You will _not_ be hurting Remix!" Deepdrive scolded, fire in her eyes.

LINElineLINE

The next earth day Deepdrive had been assigned to the med bay to work with KnockOut in fixing up patients. KnockOut still showed disdain for working with Deepdrive, his hatred no longer seemed personal like it did before, but it was still there, but Deepdrive could live with that. She just didn't think it was fair when she hadn't done anything wrong.

He grumbled as he cleaned medical tools and Deepdrive silently made checks to the tools fitted in her servos. The longer two went without talking the more KnockOut's annoyance seemed to grow, and the more Deepdrive made small glares at his back out of sight.

To be honest, neither of them was happy with this arrangement, and both agreed –though they wouldn't say so out loud- that it would be more suited that they had alternate shifts rather than sharing them, but Megatron had made it clear that he wanted them both to be there at the same time, for whatever reason, though Deepdrive had a growing suspicion.

Deepdrive was vaguely aware that Megatron and a couple officers were currently absent from the Nemesis on a mission, something about an important Iacon relic.

During one of the times that Deepdrive made a glare at KnockOut, KnockOut turned to face her and saw her, causing a silent glaring match.

A vehicon entered the room, stopping when he saw the subtle conflict in the room.

"What do you want?!" KnockOut burst out, and the vehicon took a step back in fear.

Deepdrive rolled her optics and turned to face the vehicon, "Aw baby what's wrong?" She asked in a gentle voice. The vehicon made a hesitant glance at the glaring mech next to her and Deepdrive's spark leaped out at the sight.

"Hey sweetie, don't worry about him, he's just frustrated that Megsie ordered that we work together. You have done nothing wrong and do not disserve to have his anger taken out on you. Now, just like you, it is important that I know what's wrong, dear."

The vehicon just stared at her in awe, Cybertonians didn't have a concept of angels, but Deepdrive sure looked like one to him.

Not missing the look that the vehicon gave her, Deepdrive looked back at KnockOut. "In fact, KnockOut, get out, I don't want you disturbing my patient like this."

KnockOut shook his head, "And what do I say if Megatron catches me disobeying his orders."

"Just tell Megsie I made you leave."

KnockOut sighed, "Why do I feel that will somehow make things worse for me."

"Probably because he will want to know what you did to make me send you away, now shoo." Deepdrive turned back to the vehicon and had him sit on the table, which the vehicon did still staring at her.

KnockOut just shook his head and decided to take his chances and leave.

Deepdrive tried asking the vehicon again, "Now, dear, what's wrong?" The vehicon simply pointed at his knee joint. Deepdrive knelt down to get a closer look.

"I see, there seems to be a problem with your electrical signals, you're having trouble with numbness and movement, right?" A nod. "Can I just run a quick internal diagnostic?" Deepdrive asked, extending one of her tentacles and hovering it behind the vehicon's neck.

The vehicon dumbly nodded, and she plugged it in, starting the diagnostic. Well, at least she was making some friends, she would have preferred that they were her immediate coworkers and there was less of the whole hero worship thing going on here, but she wasn't picky.

Fifteen cycles later, and Deepdrive was waving goodbye to Vehicon1A87, who was good as new. She smiled, starting to pack away some of the bigger tools that she had used only to turn when she heard the familiar noise of a Groundbridge opening behind her.

Maybe Megatron was right about her being a danger magnet.


	14. Chapter 14

Out from the groundbridge came Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead, combat stances ready. Deepdrive scrambled to block the door and extended one of her tentacles over a button.

"Deepdrive," Recognised Optimus, examining the button the tentacle was hovering over carefully. Deepdrive saw the glance and began to explain rapidly.

"This is what human call a panic button. Megsie had them installed in all the med bays after an incident back on Cybertron. I press this, and every Decepticon on the Nemesis is alerted to Autobot presence on the med bay and will make their way to this room." The Autobots froze, realizing the threat that came from Deepdrive.

Optimus narrowed his optics, "And why haven't you pressed it yet."

Deepdrive vented in hesitation, "I am giving you a chance to go back to base. There doesn't need to be a fight today, I don't want to see anyone on my table today, and you don't want any of the children to cry tonight."

Optimus contemplated Deepdrive for a moment before he decided to make her an offer, "Deepdrive, my offer still stands, you can still join the Autobots. I believe that some good exists in all Decepticons, you more than most. I believe that you truly think that you are on the right side, but you have been deceived. The Decepticons may have started out following a just caused but they have turned down a dark path as that cause became corrupted. Megatron has misguided you using false promises-"

Deepdrive cut him off, no longer able to contain her emotions anymore, "You were the one who fell for false promises Pax! I mean Optimus Pri-… whatever." Deepdrive's ran her servos down in frustration, realizing her mistake, but she refused to allow Optimus to speak, she wasn't done yet, she had been holding all this in far too long.

"You left us, Pax, you fell for their lies even though you _knew_ better. They used you to divide us, and you let them!" Optimus was taken aback by Deepdrive's outburst but made an attempt to defend himself.

"The council gave their word that the-"

"Deoblon." Deepdrive interrupted him again. "How many promises did you think they made then? And how many do you think they followed up? We both know the answer to that question, and you knew! What made you think that these promises were different? Because you thought that you were able to make them see reason? Are you really that naïve? Or was it arrogance? Did you have any idea how much it _hurt_? Not just me but to Megsie? 'Wave? You were a little brother to us and you left! It was like I lost yet _another_..." Deepdrive cut herself off, overwhelmed. Cybertonians didn't cry like humans did, but Deepdrive if could cry, she almost certainly would be.

Optimus was at a complete loss for words, simply from the sheer raw emotion that Deepdrive had and was displaying. Suddenly he knew what it was like for the other side of the argument that day, and previous actions were now understandable. Nothing could excuse what Megatron had done, but now he understood the rage, the anger more for what it was, pain of betrayal.

However, he had to put these thoughts aside, he came here for a mission, and he didn't know if they would be able to catch the Nemesis' coordinates again anytime soon. "I still intend to do what we came here for."

Deepdrive nodded glumly and pressed the button.

"No surprise there."

LINElineLINE

Like Deepdrive had said, every 'con on the base had flooded their way to the Nemesis, the Autobots had fought valiantly, and had been able to make some progress, but there had just been too many enemies to worry about to actually be able to make an effort in finding the vault where the Decepticons kept their relics, and they had to fall back through a Groundbridge.

It was almost scary how quickly Deepdrive had been evacuated from the med bay. Less than a fraction of a cycle after the button had been pressed a Groundbridge had opened up behind her and Soundwave had pulled her through, closing the Groundbridge behind her.

To Optimus, it had been painfully nostalgic to see that Soundwave was being protective as usual.

 _'_ _You were a little brother to us…"_ Optimus flinched at the memory. The guilt that lone statement caused stung more than he wanted it too. Deepdrive may have appeared to have been younger than him, but it was true that she was older.

Optimus did remember when Deepdrive had told him what had happened to her family at Deoblon. It was wrong that the council didn't own up to their promises back then, but Optimus still believed firmly in his decision to give them a chance was objectively the right one. After today though, he realized how poor of a decision it had been on a personal level.

He could not allow himself to make decisions in this war base on his personal desires or based on how things affected him, he had responsibilities as a Prime to do what was best for the common good.

Optimus was disturbed from his thoughts when Bulkhead went over to him, serious look in his optics.

"Wanna talk about earlier?" The question was simple enough, but Optimus knew he shouldn't as team leader. But…. Just this once.

Optimus nodded, smiling a little in appreciation. Bulkhead nodded.

"On the roof?"

Yes, the roof seemed like a good idea, Optimus didn't really want others to listen.

They made their way to the roof in silence. Bulkhead had this sympathetic and understanding feeling coming off him in waves.

Once the two were on the roof they sat on the edge looking into the desert that was Jasper, Nevada.

Bulkhead was the first one to speak, "I know. How you two knew each other. Deepdrive told Miko earlier when I was watching Miko teach Deepdrive how to look after the cat before. Sound ruff."

Optimus nodded, "I made the right decision, Megatron was wrong." He stated firmly.

"But," Bulkhead continued for him, "It sucks that making the right decision means stomping on the sparks of those that cared about you most."

Optimus continued to stare at the dessert grimly.

Bulkhead pondered for a bit, trying to find something to say.

"What's done is done, Prime. Can't change that, nor should we. What we should be focusing on what we _can_ do."

LINElineLINE

Deepdrive was deeply embarrassed about her outburst earlier. She had yet to say anything of the sort for a very long time, as she had promised herself never to speak of it again.

Luckily for her, Soundwave had chosen to erase all video feed that came from the med bay at the time, believing that no one, not even Megatron needed to see it.

He still had a few megacycles of his shift left, so he let Deepdrive 'surf the web' in the room while he worked.

He was interrupted when Deepdrive suddenly jolted to attention.

"You have _got_ to see this, 'Wave," Deepdrive said with utmost certainty as she charged to his monitor and plugged in one of her tentacles.

A 'YouTube' video appeared on the screen, with the title, "CAT PLAYS PIANO FUNNY"


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello, I haven't done one of these pre-comments since the first chapter, but I felt the need t with this chapter as I would like to quickly go over some things.**

 **First of all, I just want to explain Deepdrive's tentacles and compare them to the Soundwave's from the show. Both Soundwave's and Deepdrive's tentacle have the ability to hack and connect into different machines, however, because Deepdrive is a medic, she has the ability to also connect to processors and efficiently and knowledgeably effect a Cybertonian's systems, as long as her Vow is not broken. In terms of strength, Soundwave's are leagues above Deepdrive's, as Soundwave's were also intended for combat, so while Soundwave's are at a Cybertonian level of strength, Deepdrive's more closely match the strength of a slightly below average human. Soundwave's tentacles are also armored and can produce electrical pulses while Deepdrive's are not.**

 **Secondly, just very briefly I want to go over Deepdrive's Sacred Vow, and what qualifies as a 'Sentient living being'. First of all, sentient is the trickier one but basically if it can have an opinion, it's classified as sentient- a cat is sentient, but bacteria is not. Living is easy, but zombie 'cons are not classified as alive. And finally, Deepdrive can still unknowing/mistakenly hurt creatures, she can step on a human if somehow, she didn't know that they were there, or feed a dog something bad for them if she didn't know that it would hurt them.**

 **And finally, where the hell is this story in the timelines? I realize I mistakenly placed Starscream on the bridge in one of the earlier chapters, but I have decided to move on and just place the present time of the story between episode 36 'Armada' and 37 'Flying mind', so just before the Nemesis gets a mind of its own for a while.**

When the Nemesis had crashed, Deepdrive had been fixing up vehicons in an Energon mine miles and miles away, in fact, she had been completely unaware of anything going on onboard at the time until Soundwave had sent her a memo warning her that there were now insectacons among their ranks and that Deepdrive didn't need to worry about them attacking her when she went back.

In any other situation, the news would have made Deepdrive rush back, but it had been reported to her that no-one had been wounded and she currently had her own problems trying to keep the gravel that had made its way into Vehicon18H3 vents from killing him, so instead she took her time carefully removing each tiny individual rock as to not damage his systems further.

It had taken a couple of megacycles Deepdrive had only noticed afterward that she hadn't received any sort of communications from the Nemesis since Soundwave's memo.

Which was suspicious since Soundwave by now would have requested her to give him a status report to make sure everything was alright and for an estimate on when she would be going back to base.

When Deepdrive asked the vehicons at the communications monitor if they had received anything, they told her that communications had abruptly cut off a megacycle ago.

What could possibly be going on? Deepdrive hoped everything was okay.

LINElineLINE

Back aboard the Nemesis, everyone had been put into stasis lock, halls were filled with frozen 'cons stopped in their tracks as the Nemesis itself flew its way to its destination, for the purpose of completing its mission. No matter whom or what got in its way.

LINElineLINE

Back at the Autobot base, Ratchet had reluctantly agreed to allow the human children and Agent Fowler go on board the Nemesis to retrieve data from the Iacon database. They were routing on the theory that the Nemesis wouldn't be able to detect them, but who knew how long it would last.

LINElineLINE

The Nemesis was distracted from detecting the groundbridge that allowed the children on board by a Decepticon communications attempt from an Energon mine, to which it had answered.

"This is Medic Deepdrive calling in, requesting a groundbridge onboard, I have completed my mission and wish to return to my station." Came in Deepdrive's concerned voice. The Nemesis considered letting the femme on board and decided that as because the femme would be no more of a threat to his mission than the other Decepticons, decided to send her a groundbridge onboard without a response.

LINElineLINE

"How odd," Deepdrive commented when she arrived onboard, it was a little unusual not to receive an audio response from the vehicons operating the groundbridge when one was requested, but it was possible that Soundwave had been the one to listen to her transmission.

However, she could not find an excuse for the un-moving vehicons in the groundbridge room.

"Um… hello? Are you alright dear?" She asked nervously, lightly touching one of them on the shoulder, but neither of them moved.

"… Alright then…" Deepdrive decided to get out of there and head for the bridge.

LINElineLINE

Meanwhile, the children had started to download the Iacon database, and Agent Fowler was receiving a transmission from Ratchet informing him of the danger the ship now posed on a city and was now discussing how to stop the Nemesis with the children.

LINElineLINE

This was way too quiet for the Nemesis. The wasn't even the sounds of footsteps in neighboring halls. Deepdrive could tell that something was off.

"Um… hello? Is there anyone there? What is going on?" She asked the empty hall, just hoping, wishing, for some noise.

"I have placed your fellow Cybertonians in stasis lock. If you interfere with my mission, you too will be stopped." Came the low voice of the Nemesis from every direction.

"Um, who is this?" Deepdrive asked, not liking the sound of this.

"I am the Nemesis on which you walk." That caused Deepdrive's spark to shudder. The ship itself?...

"All righty then, and, Nemesis, what just, _is_ , your mission?" Deepdrive asked.

"I will decode and retrieve the Iacon relics. If you attempt to stop me, you will fail."

While Deepdrive knew that the Decepticons wanted the Iacon relics, the fact that the Nemesis had put them all under stasis lock showed that this didn't seem as good of a thing as it looked.

LINElineLINE

The children and Agent Fowler had heard the Nemesis speaking to someone, but as for who it remained a mystery. A long list of Decepticons that they certainly didn't want to face came to mind, but whoever it was had yet to seem to have angered the ship, meaning they either weren't stupid or weren't aggressive. Or both. Which narrowed it down by a lot. They all agreed that they hoped it was only the latter of the two.

Miko also had a specific 'con in mind that she was hoping for, but didn't say anything out loud.

They finally agreed that Agent Fowler should head over to the engine to stop the Nemesis anyway, just that he should be more careful as not to get caught by this mystery 'con.

LINElineLINE

Deepdrive continues to wander the halls a bit, trying to sort out her options. She could attempt using her tentacles to pull Soundwave or Megatron out of stasis lock, but there would be the risk that the Nemesis would put whoever she chose and herself straight back into stasis lock, and that wouldn't help anyone.

 _Slaggit, I'm a medic, not a tactician._ Deepdrive thought in frustration.

Deepdrive saw something move in the corner of her vision and moved quickly to see that it was an adult human.

"Well, hello there, what might you be doing in here dear? My designation is Deepdrive." She introduced herself kneeling down to see the human better.

"Deepdrive, huh?" Asked Agent Fowler, remembering that name from Optimus earlier. "Then it seems we might be in luck, the names Agent Fowler, I'm here with the kids."


	16. Chapter 16

"Deepdrive, huh?" Asked Agent Fowler, remembering that name from Optimus earlier. "Then it seems we might be in luck, the names Agent Fowler, I'm here with the kids."

Deepdrive's optics widened, "The kids?! What are they doing here?"

Fowler put on a serious face, "That does not matter, right now we are trying to stop the ship from doing what it's doing, and I could use your help. The ships going to destroy an entire city to get to an Iacon relic, thousands of innocent people will die."

"You don't need to convince me, dear." Deepdrive stopped him, her voice a quiet mixture of sadness and anger. "I'm taking a guess because I truly have no idea on how all this started, but judging from that it was you that was sent rather than an Autobot, you already know what the ship has done to my friends. My problem is I don't know how to stop the ship without being put in stasis lock like everyone else."

Fowler nodded, secretly relieved that the 'con wasn't going to try to stop him. "You don't need to worry about that, the kids and I came up with a solution. We believe that Megatron fuelled the ship's engine with dark energon, and that caused the ship to gain a mind of its own, and that by ejecting the fuel from the ship, the ship will lose its sentience and stop well, acting on its own."

"Dark energon… I'm going to have to have a little chat with Megsie. I'll carry you to the engine room, but I will have to leave the ejection process to you, I have a feeling that it will probably be forbidden by my Vow." Deepdrive warned. Fowler raised an eyebrow at 'Megsie' but went along with it, glad to have some help, knowing that travel would be made faster being carried by Deepdrive.

Fowler's curiosity did get the better of him though, "I heard about that, though I'm not sure I get it. Optimus said that you couldn't break it, but I don't get how that works, what's stopping you?"

Deepdrive smiled a little, having a particular interest in the topic, "Human brains are very different to Cybertonian processors, but just as human brains control all of your bodily actions, our processors control all of ours. However, brains are controlled by chemicals, while processors are controlled by programs. My Sacred Vow is not just a set of words, but also a program that has been downloaded into my processor that prevents me from doing anything that would break my vow, and that is just a Sacred Vow of Pacifism, some Vows, like the Sacred Vow of Protection, also force one to make actions so that they honour their Vow."

"And you can't just, I don't know, delete the Vow?" Fowler asked, still unsure.

Deepdrive shook her helm, "No, the Sacred Vow is more like a human computer virus in that way, though I dislike that comparison, as the Vow is taken consensually."

Fowler narrowed his eyes, "Then what is limitations is it bound to? In a report Optimus made just two weeks ago, you sounded an alarm that alerted the rest of the 'cons to the 'bots position knowing that they would fight, that didn't seem to be against your Vow."

Deepdrive grew oddly amused, "Did the action itself hurt anyone? Did the alarm itself hurt anyone? The Vow only prevents me from doing things where my actions directly hurt someone, not other's actions. As far as the Vow allows I could ask Megsie to burn an entire village to the ground and it wouldn't stop me, I just don't want to." Fowler was disturbed by the complete detachment Deepdrive had said that last statement, as if she couldn't even see the war lord doing something of the kind. It was truly chilling.

It took a while for Fowler to work up the courage to speak again, "If you don't mind me asking that is, what happens when two Sacred Vows conflict? What then?"

"I don't mind. The Sacred Vows were all made with each other in mind. Depending on which two Vows are conflicting, some Vows are given priority. For example, a Vow of Protection, basically a bodyguard Vow, will take priority over a Vow of Pacifism."

Fowler got a chilling thought, "And what's stopping you from making one of those so you could join the fight. I heard that you could be dangerous."

Deepdrive faltered in her steps, "One doesn't take a Sacred Vow to loophole another Sacred Vow. A Vow of Protection is permanent, no matter what, once you have taken that Vow, you would have to follow your charge for the rest of your life, no matter what path they go down." There was something… off about Deepdrive's voice, there was more to what she was saying, but suddenly, she was back to normal, voice cheery, "Besides, no matter which mech I chose, Megsie or 'Wave, they would pull a fit, gladiator's pride and all. Not that I could blame them, Mechs as big and strong as they are, being 'protected' by a little medic like me, that would be humiliating even if I did become some big scary monster that people say I could be."

Fowler chose not to ask about it, not that he had the chance, as they had just arrived at the engine room.

As Deepdrive the corner into the room she froze when saw Megatron standing by the control panel, hand on the lever that would eject the dark energon.

Quickly moving back out around the corner Deepdrive knelt allowing Agent Fowler onto the ground.

"Megsie must have had the same idea as you did. I'm going to give you three cycles to run back to the children, after that I am going to pull Megsie out of Stasis Lock so that he can eject the dark energon, after that, we 'cons are going to start waking up. I want the kids out of here by then, understand?"

Agent Fowler nodded, "Just one thing, how long are three cycles?"

"About four minutes! Go!" Deepdrive implored.

And he ran back as fast as he could.

Waiting. Waiting. Two cycles. Waiting. Two and a half. Waiting. Deepdrive nodded and went into the engine room and as fast as possible, she extended her tentacles, and connected one of them to Megatron's processor.

Within a few seconds that felt much longer than what they were, Megatron fell out of stasis and groaned.

"You have ignored my warnings, you will now be stopped like the rest of your comrades." Came the booming voice of the ship.

Deepdrive shook Megatron, "I'm sorry, Megsie, any other day and my bedside manner would be perfect, but right now, just pull the slagging lever!" She shouted, before being zapped into stasis lock, just managing to stir Megatron enough for him to focus and pull the lever in time.

LINElineLINE

Deepdrive had generously allowed Megatron enough time to clean up the damage that was caused by the Nemesis' command and talk to his subordinates properly before she finally chose to give him a piece of her mind.

They, being Megatron, Soundwave, and Deepdrive, were alone on the bridge and Megatron and Soundwave had been enjoying what they had believed to be the end of this, when they turned to face Deepdrive's condemning face.

"Megsie! Why the pit did you put dark energon in the ship's engine?! Dark energon?! In the ship?! Did you have a clue what would happen? Huh? Why did you think that it was a good idea in the first place?"

Megatron was taken by surprise, for a moment. Before glaring back and narrowing his eyes, "Dark energon flows through my veins, I believed I had a good idea on what I was doing."

Deepdrive's shock only brought more rage, "And how did dark energon make its way into your system?!"

Megatron at this moment seeing the look in Deepdrive's optics chose to think through what he was about to say. It was not that anyone ever had to fear harm from Deepdrive, but Deepdrive knew how to be creative when it suited her, and Soundwave tended to turn a blind eye on her plotting. Everyone in the room could remember the last mech had set her off. A particularly rude mech who ground her gears who had pushed her off the edge by making a comment on her choice of 'mute' partners had found himself with his voice box permanently turned off the next time he was on her table.

"Well… I um…" Megatron kept sending pleading glances to Soundwave, unable to think of a way out.


	17. Chapter 17

Deepdrive did not do anything to Megatron nor would she, not because she didn't find a fault in his insane thought process, but because she knew that he was expecting her to do something in retaliation, and until he discovers what she has 'done' it will eat at his mind and cause him to worry just as his stupidity has caused her to worry about him.

 _The fool._ Deepdrive couldn't understand what could have made Megatron think that it was a good idea to stab himself in the chest with a piece of energon that has been said to be the literal blood of the embodiment of chaos.

Deepdrive finally arrived at the med-bay and stormed in, shoving a table out of her way. KnockOut watched in amusement, as Deepdrive fussed with random tools, obviously without reason.

"Now what could have caused a gentle femme like you to get so angry?" He asked, smirking.

Deepdrive turned to face him, "It's just… What the pit?! What in the universe could have convinced Megsie that putting dark energon into the engine was a fragging good idea?"

KnockOut snorted, "I know right, I was there, I warned him not to. Told him that it was a stupid idea, but did he listen? No."

Deepdrive nodded, "And then with the whole 'stabbing dark energon into his own spark because he thought it would be a good idea' slag that I can't even begin to understand? Seriously? What reasoning?"

KnockOut nodded, "I cannot begin to understand it either, of course, he wouldn't listen to me."

Deepdrive smirked, "Don't you worry about that, he wouldn't listen to me either, and trust me when I say he will regret it later. I may be harmless, but am no way does that mean I am without my methods." She worded carefully, not wanting her trick to get to Megatron too soon.

KnockOut smiled at Deepdrive, before realizing what he was doing and scowling and turning away. Deepdrive now calmed down after venting the last of her anger, giggled at the sight.

KnockOut did not appreciate being mocked, "Slag off, you haven't gone out for a ride in your alt form yet, Megatron obviously gives you special treatment, so you don't have the excuse of not wanting to get into trouble for skipping duty, unlike me, who received disciplinary action for last time."

Deepdrive didn't stop smiling, "But I do have an excuse, I haven't chosen an alt form yet. Can't choose, too much to pick from."

This spiked KnockOut's attention. "You're a grounder, aren't you?" He asked, eyeing her back.

Deepdrive nodded, "I know I should choose something more practical like Soundwave, but I don't know… I want to pick something that looks nice too."

KnockOut smiled openly, "You have come to the right place, _I_ am an automobile enthusiast!"

LINElineLINE

Deepdrive felt guilty for finding the next day easier when everyone else was having a much more difficult time. Everyone had gone out in a rush to collect the relics before the Autobots did, while Deepdrive had remained on base.

KnockOut had come back covered in scratches and dents, and completely fuming, but had allowed Deepdrive to check him over without complaint. Buffering, however, was a job only he was allowed to do.

The insectacon warrior didn't come back at all, Deepdrive felt like she should feel sad for him, but she hadn't even met him, so that felt hollow.

Dreadwing came back empty handed, but had escaped punishment with news that Starscream was dead. Deepdrive was glad that Dreadwing didn't get in trouble, but Starscream's death… even though the mech had never been kind to her, he had at one point been her patient.

Soundwave was the only one to come back with a relic of the four teams, once again appearing to be the only competent soldier among them, but had come back with a cracked visor and with Laserbeak hurt.

Deepdrive had ordered that the med bay for once be locked off while she fixed the two up, knowing that Soundwave would prefer the privacy.

Deepdrive gave Soundwave a weak smile, "How about I fix up 'Beak first?" Soundwave nodded, ejecting Laserbeak from the place in his chassis and having her fly onto the table.

"Hello again dear, first I will give you a quick look over before I give you a proper internal diagnosis, alright?" Deepdrive told the drone softly, as she began to look her over.

Deepdrive gasped when she saw the bomb that had been hidden inside Laserbeak, and Soundwave quickly opened a groundbridge allowing her to quickly toss the damned thing to a safe distance.

Now warier of what internal systems could have been damaged by Laserbeak's fall to allow the Autobots to hide a weapon inside her without the drone being made aware, Deepdrive extended one of her tentacles and connected it to the drone and run a full system diagnosis.

However, her check was disrupted when her medical protocols alerted her that the drone had been infected with a virus.

Deepdrive looked up to Soundwave, optics wide, "'Beak has been infected with a virus." Soundwave tilted his head in outrage as Deepdrive focused on going back to her work on removing the virus.

The Autobots had coded this virus well, but Deepdrive had had an interest in processors and processor virus' for a long time, and compared to what she had studied in her free time, the virus' code was extremely rushed, and she was able get rid of it after a jarring fifteen cycles.

Deepdrive vented in relief, before finishing up the rest of Laserbeak's physical damage, before looking to Soundwave.

"'Wave, if 'Beak has been infected, you were likely too." Soundwave nodded in understanding allowing Deepdrive to do her work.

LINElineLINE

Back at the Autobot base, Rafael sighed as his connection to Soundwave's processor died out with the virus.

"Sorry guys, it was all for nothing, they discovered the virus.

The others looked back in understanding, also grimacing at the loss, a direct connection to Megatron's right-hand mech's brain could have been an advantage that they needed.

Arcee decided to offer some comfort, "Don't sweat it kid, it was a long shot in the first place. Deepdrive has shown an interest in the topic before, and she probably has centuries of experience, and if her and Soundwave are as close as she says, it would have been a miracle if it lasted long."

LINElineLINE

Deepdrive groaned. She had been checking on another injured vehicon in an energon mine, and the last thing she remembered was the sounds of combat towards the entrance.

It was dark, and her systems were telling her that her left pede was critically injured.

Why was there so much pressure on her back? Deepdrive discovered it was weight.

That's right, there was a cave in.

Deepdrive tried sending a comm. to Soundwave on the Nemesis, but her communications systems responded as disabled.

"Scrap."

"Who's that?" Came a familiar voice. Bulkhead, she realized.

"Scrap."


	18. Chapter 18

Deepdrive turned on her optic's night vision to allow herself a better view of the situation. She realised immediately that the weight on her back was not actually the weight of the 'ceiling' of the cave but actually a pile of boulders that she was blocking from entering the room. The weight was nearly unbearable for femme like her, who had never really been very strong, but she couldn't move without risking the structural integrity of the air pocket. In front of her, what she had thought was the ground was a large boulder, which was partial on top of what was her now crushed pede.

At this revelation, she ran a quick internal diagnostic to find that her equilibrium sensors as well as a list of others had been damaged and were offline.

Deepdrive looked towards where she heard Bulkhead's voice and found that he wasn't too far away, and wasn't even separated from her by and rubble. They were in a circular air pocket, with boulders littering the majority of the ground, but at least it appeared to be stable.

Bulkhead was heavily damaged in his abdominal region, I huge dent encircled a large sum of it, mostly damaging some of his internal systems, but Deepdrive predicted that he would be able to last at least three megacycles without it causing him permanent damage, and scarily enough, did not even limit his combat capabilities.

Deepdrive felt a wave of fear overcome her as she realised that she was trapped by the burden of preventing the boulders from coming in, and nothing was stopping Bulkhead from hurting her.

But then another thought hit her, and her grief trumped everything else.

"They're all dead, aren't they? All the vehicons stationed here, I can't read them. They've been crushed." She said, anxiety overtaking her voice.

"I thought you 'cons treated the vehicons like they were expendable," Bulkhead asked, still out of focus.

Deepdrive shook her head, outraged at the accusation, "They were my patients! Not one of them was unimportant to me. I cared about them and got to know them just like the rest of my patients. Vehicon197A, he liked human science fiction, he had watched every episode of 'Star Trek' and 'Doctor Who' ever made. 226, he's pretty clumsy and not that smart, but he always wanted to be transferred to the science labs so that he could learn. A71B, has a friend with terrible memory problems, somehow forgot his own name and now calls himself 'Steve', A71B has to help him out every day. They were never expendable to me."

Bulkhead suddenly recognised Deepdrive and forced himself to focus. "Deepdrive?"

Seeing Deepdrive struggling under the weight of the rubble and forced himself to stand and make his way his way to her. He grunted as he shoved the boulder in front of her out of the way.

Deepdrive whimpered in fear of both the mech and her legs' instability now that the object that was forcing her to stand was gone.

Bulkhead, however, ignored it and somewhat gently pushed her away from her burden and shoved himself into her place.

Deepdrive, who had landed on her back stared at Bulkhead in utter confusion and awe. Despite his injuries, Bulkhead was taking the weight like it was nothing.

"Why?" She asked, not understanding his reasoning. He didn't owe her anything, she wasn't his friend.

"You don't fight, and you care about your allies more than some of us 'bots. You may be a 'con but you sure don't act like one in my books. I get why you don't wanna join us 'bots, but ever thought about turning neutral? It would certainly be less confusing." Bulkhead didn't exactly answer her question properly, but the answer was still there.

Deepdrive dipped her helm, "I couldn't do that. Not just because of 'Wave and Megsie but… If I was neutral, I wouldn't be helping anybody, and that's all I ever wanted to do. Either side won't let you help them unless you're one of them, and to try to be both is to be neither." There was silence, between the two, before Deepdrive continued,

"I hate this war, it's all wrong. Even now we're both injured and both need help but if my rescue team arrives first they'll take you to try and get information out of you, and it's if your rescue team, I'll just become your information piñata again."

Bulkhead smirked, "Of course that suggests that I haven't offlined by the time either team arrives." Deepdrive smiled a little, before rolling her optics.

"Pssh, don't you don't you worry 'bout that, dear, my expert opinion is that you have three megacycles that you can last without proper medical care, I might even be able to extend that. 'Wave checks up with me once a megacycle when I'm out, first 'missed call' he ignores, and if I miss a second the troops will be sent before you can say 'I was in deep surgery'. Trust me, my team will be here long before you go offline."

Bulkhead groaned at the news. Deepdrive slowly turned herself over into a crawling position. Taking a quick look at the ground she started collecting tiny pieces of metal parts.

"What ya collecting down there?" Bulkhead asked, giving her an odd look.

"My pede. Hopefully, I can reuse the parts back on the Nemesis." Deepdrive grumbled. Bulkhead looked to where her pede used to be and winced at the sight. It wasn't a clean cut of, the edge was folded in with a few parts sticking out, and energon leaked thinly through the gaps.

"That don't look good." He said.

Deepdrive scanned it over again grimly, "I think I can stop the energon leak, but I will most likely need a med bay to fix it completely. If I don't, I have less than a megacycle," She looked straight into Bulkhead's optics, "Which is why I owe you my spark, considering I wouldn't be able to do anything if I was still standing there. If my team comes first… I'll talk to Megsie, might not be able to convince him to let you go, but I might be able to convince him not to get someone to torture you."

Bulkhead nodded, "And what was that about you being a piñata? If I remember correctly, we never actually hurt you."

Deepdrive had finished collecting all the parts that she could see, and turned back into a sitting position, "True, but that didn't mean that you didn't hit me with a guilt stick. Probably will again, and Pax knows exactly where to hit to get me talking."

Bulkhead looked sceptical, "So you're dropping the whole, 'pretending he's two different people' thing, are you?"

Deepdrive sighed, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I realise now that it's childish to pretend he isn't. Optimus Prime is the same Pax that was my brother-by-spark and pretending he isn't will only put me at a disadvantage."

Bulkhead hummed, before asking a question, "So do you think that you two would be able to have a civil conversation now? Sort over your problems like rational people instead of shouting at him from across a med bay?"

Deepdrive looked down ashamed for a bit, trying to hide a light blush, before starting to say something. However, before she could talk, noises came from behind Bulkhead.

Talking.

The weight that was on Bulkheads back began to fade away until it was finally safe enough to step away and face the rescue team, getting ready to fight if it wasn't his.

He relaxed when he saw Optimus step out from behind the shadows, followed by Bumblebee. Optimus had a slight smile of relief grow on his face when he saw that Bulkhead had yet to become one with the Allspark, but then his head turned to see Deepdrive, and Deepdrive could almost hear what he was thinking.

 _Here we go again._


	19. Chapter 19

The only trouble that Deepdrive caused on the way back to the Autobot base was that she needed to lean on Bumblebee, but that wasn't exactly her fault considering that her pede was now a pile of parts in one of her compartments.

Exiting the groundbridge, the 'bots' and 'con's attention was brought to Ratchet, who low-key panicked at the sight of Bulkhead's damage.

"Bulkhead! Get your aft here, everyone else, clear the med bay!" Everyone started shuffling and the kids peered over the edge of their half floor area, Miko looking especially concerned.

"No need to panic, I already scanned his injury, he's got plenty of time." All the 'bot looked at Deepdrive in slight outrage at how unconcerned she was, some 'bot only just noticing her presence.

Deepdrive had Bumblebee let her lean on one of the med bay stations, whispering a quick "Thanks, sweetie.", before she continued.

"Mechs got injured like that all the time in the gladiatorial pits, it looks worse than it is. That area on warrior class is usually mostly armour in front of their cooling system minimal energon lines, and Bulk's Cybertonian medical records back that up. If his cooling systems are down, he should currently have two and a half megacycles minimum before he starts to overheat. If you feel the need to do something, just have the patient sit still to prevent his smaller parts from coming loose. I'm pretty sure you've got it, but I should be able to help after I finish welding my own lines shut."

"His medical records!"

"Weld what!"

"Hey!"

Deepdrive shut out everyone's remarks and focused on the task at hand, quickly shutting down her leg's pain receptors she used one of her tentacles to grab one of Ratchet's medical tools.

"Hey! I nee-, well maybe you need it more." Ratchet changed his mind mid-sentence when he saw Deepdrive start to use the tool to weld her leaking fuel lines.

Ratchet weighed the options before sighing, "Fine! Everyone else, out! Deepdrive… I wouldn't mind your aid considering your experience."

"Sure thing, dear."

LINElineLINE

The surgery went well without any problems, as Deepdrive said, Ratchet didn't exactly need any help. Nothing important had been damaged. Deepdrive didn't exactly blame Ratchet for reacting the way he did though, almost every medic did when they saw that kind of injury, back on Cybertron, only first responders or specialists had an actual idea of what damage was caused.

Deepdrive, for the time being, was still without a pede. The parts she had collected back in the energon mine were not nearly enough to reconstruct a pede. She would have to wait till she got back home. If she got back home. Megatron and Soundwave had every reason to believe that she had died back there, that was unless they searched through the entire mine to notice her corpse was gone.

Deepdrive didn't need her pede where she was anyway. Stuck back in the brig again, Deepdrive couldn't exactly do anything other than sitting anyway.

Miko hadn't visited her yet. Deepdrive figured that was reasonable, she saw how scared Miko had been when she saw Bulkhead.

Deepdrive snorted, surprised with herself, "I called him Bulk." It was an unspoken fact that only those closest to Deepdrive knew that Deepdrive didn't give someone a nickname until she had gotten fond of them. No doubt Optimus noticed.

 _When did that happen though?_ She asked herself.

Deepdrive's attention was taken away from her thoughts when Optimus entered the brig. A few moments passed where the two just stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something first.

"Come on, Pax, _you_ came _here_ , you must have something to say," Deepdrive said eventually.

Optimus looked down, "So it is true."

Deepdrive stared at him, understanding, "So you talked to Bulk, huh?" Optimus just stared back at her.

"There is no point in pretending you're two different people, Pax. I guess I'm okay with that. Now, are you alright with that?"

Optimus again didn't answer.

"Well it doesn't matter, you're my little brother, I'll call you what you want, sorry sweetie, that's just how it works. Now, what useless information are you going to get out of me this time to make it look like you're treating me like any other prisoner and that you don't care about me anymore because we already figured that one out." Deepdrive asked softly.

Optimus took a moment before he sighed in sadness and asked, "Why is it that now after that you are back to acknowledging that I betrayed you as Orion Pax that you are treating nicer."

Deepdrive wasn't expecting that, "I guess it's because I'm an expert big sister. The thing about familial love is it is supposed to be unconditional. Whether if it's your little sister stealing your security pass to get into places she shouldn't or your little brother declaring literal war against the rest of the family. I thought that pretending you weren't my brother would make things easier for me, but it still hurt, and now that I'm treating you like my brother, you're the one who's hurting, aren't you?" Deepdrive stared straight into Optimus' optics, he didn't deny it.

"Good… Bulk asked me if I was willing to sort through our issues like a civil person… Well, I am. Are you?"

This time Optimus was surprised, "That would be… acceptable."

Deepdrive snorted at his wording, presumptuous as ever.

"Then sit and let's talk." She gestured to the floor. He hesitantly nodded.

"You're still not good with this family stuff, aren't you?" Deepdrive laughed.

"That… is true." He admitted bashfully.

"Well, it is a good thing I have a tonne of experience. Now, this is called a talk, if Megsie and 'Wave were here, it would be called a family meeting, we have had one of these before. We each take turns explaining how we feel, however, each of our sentences has to start with 'I'. I will start.

"I was very torn on the day that you joined the High Council. I also did not want to use force to get what we wanted. I, however, could not trust the High Council after what happened with Deoblon. I was very hurt when you declared war against your big brother, Megsie and I was disappointed that you did not attempt to speak privately with us before you did. I am till this day terrified that one of my brothers may kill my other brother. I chose to pretend that you were not my brother to avoid this, and I am sorry that I said that you were dead to me." Deepdrive explained slowly before waving to Optimus, who nodded and begun his turn.

"I realize now that leaving you for the council was a bad decision. I am also sorry that I didn't try to talk to you. I, however, cannot change my stance as I now have a responsibility as Prime to do what is right for the greater good rather than what is right for my personal desires."

Deepdrive nodded, "I believe, that if you allow me to contact Megsie, I can call a family meeting between the four of us so that we can end this war. I see, now with the high council gone, that there is no reason for fighting other than one side holding a grudge against the other."

Optimus couldn't believe Deepdrive's proposal, "There's no-"

Deepdrive made a loud grunting sound. "I." She insisted. Optimus gave her a look that clearly said 'Really?'.

"I don't make the rules." She said simply.

Optimus sighed, "I don't believe that the Decepticons would be willing to accept that."

"I disagree. I would agree with you if it weren't for the current leadership, currently, Dread is second in command, and I believe he would be willing to accept peace, and the third is 'Wave. I acknowledge that KnockOut may be hesitant to accept such a truce, however, I believe that his resistance alone would not be enough to cause problems, and I am certain that all the vehicons by now just wish a lifestyle with a foreseeable future in the world of the living."

Optimus looked down, and nodded. This was certainly something to think about.


	20. Chapter 20

Optimus silently entered the main area of the base and silently observed everyone in it, still deep in thought.

Miko was sitting on Bulkhead's shoulder and they were having a private conversation. Bumblebee, Rafael and Jack were playing video games in the kids' area and Arcee and Ratchet were also talking.

Arcee was the first to notice Optimus had returned. "So, how did it go?" She asked.

Optimus hesitated, not sure if he wanted to bring the others hopes up yet, but also feeling the need to discuss this as a team.

Optimus' hesitation to answering Arcee's question did not go unnoticed, and almost immediately everyone's attention was brought to Optimus.

Optimus sighed and decided to drop the bomb. "Deepdrive believes that it is possible for a truce to be formed with the Decepticons, one that may even lead to the end of the war, and has proposed that we allow her to try to organise a peace meeting with Megatron."

Arcee's optics widened, "Optimus, are you sure we can trust this? Besides, is that even a good idea, to just let them get away with what they have done? How many good 'bots have the offlined?" She spoke thinking of her two lost partners.

Miko gave Bulkhead a knowing look, "But the Decepticons have also had their losses, hasn't that been that been, like, Deepdrive's entire point?"

Bulkhead nodded, backing Miko up, "Just today we offlined a tonne of vehicons that Deepdrive knew in the mine, not even talking about vehicons I have to think of Skyquake. Wasn't he Dreadwing's twin brother or something?"

Ratchet grunted, "That's only more of a reason to think that the Decepticons wouldn't accept a treaty. Even if somehow Megatron agreed, none among the ranks would accept it."

"Deepdrive is confident that the majority of high-ranking officers would be willing to accept a peace treaty as well as the vehicons," Optimus said.

 **"I'm willing to give it a try. I mean, we are talking about the possibility of all of this being over. If we quit fighting we'd be able to focus on restoring Cybertron."** Bumblebee beeped.

Conflicted glances looked around the room.

LINElineLINE

Soundwave absolutely refused to stop working. Deepdrive had been on a simple patch-up job in one of the energon mines when the Autobots just had to attack, and the end result was that the cave had collapsed with Deepdrive inside.

Megatron was right, she was a danger magnet.

Soundwave had sent Laserbeak to search through what little tunnels remained and to send scans and data back, which he carefully looked through in hopes of finding some sign of Deepdrive.

Soundwave was going to find her, and when he did he wasn't going to let her out of his sight ever again. He had come too close to losing her too many times and she was too important to him to lose a final time.

Deepdrive, Megatron and his Cassettes. The only sentient beings he cared about. Megatron was his oldest friend who he owed his life, and his Cassettes were a part of him.

There was no one moment that Soundwave could recall when he started to care about Deepdrive as much as he did the other two. It just happened over time. Deepdrive was just… Deepdrive. She looked after Soundwave better than he did despite how she was hardly capable of looking after herself. She always assumed the best of people to point where it was so illogical that there was absolutely no question why she and Shockwave didn't get along. There was a gentleness to her and an upbeat optimistic attitude that never went away, no matter what the universe threw at her, she always seemed to ridiculously think everything was going to be okay in the end.

Hope like that was precious. Soundwave knew Megatron thought so too, and it made sense that mechs with as dark past such as theirs would appreciate such hope.

Soundwave, especially in recent times being separated with the majority of his cassettes, felt like he needed Deepdrive's optimism, telling him things were going to be fine.

Soundwave got a hopeful ping from Laserbeak, and he received data showing trace signatures of liquid energon. It could possibly be another long gone vehicon, but it could also possibly be Deepdrive.

Soundwave opened a groundbridge to Laserbeak's position and went through and began searching and scanning the area.

It was a circular air pocket, big enough to fit three mechs. Soundwave noted that there was an entryway that had obviously dug out. Knowing that the Decepticon vehicons that he had sent out to scout the cave hadn't reached this far into the cave, Soundwave concluded that such had been the work of the Autobots, and it was likely that one of their comrades had been trapped here.

Still, Soundwave scanned the area, not willing to take chances with Deepdrive's spark possibly being on the line.

Soundwave could tell that the liquid energon on the ground was not enough to cause an adult mech –or femme- severe damage. So, whoever it was is still likely alive. Soundwave began using his tentacles to move pieces of rock in the area of the energon, looking for possible clues on the identity of the damaged mech or femme.

Soundwave halted, picking up a small, thin, black, piece of armour. Scanning it over, Soundwave concluded that the probability that the armour piece was Deepdrive's to be 87%.

He needed to report this to Megatron.

LINElineLINE

Miko snuck into the brig, this time alone. She didn't have to try anywhere near as hard this time, as thankfully, Bulkhead had now come to the same conclusion as her that Deepdrive posed less of a threat than a goldfish.

"Hey, Deepdrive!" She said brightly.

Deepdrive smiled, relieved to have someone to talk to bored as she was, "Hello, small one."

Miko fake-scowled, "What? Bulkhead gets a nickname and I don't?"

Deepdrive chuckled, "Small one is your nickname. Are you trying to trick me into thinking that's actually your name?"

Miko looked down, "Well, no… It's just 'small one' isn't exactly the coolest nickname."

"And you think 'Megsie' is?" Deepdrive asked in amusement.

Miko smiled a little, "You have me there… You looked pretty bored when I got here, where's your cat?" Miko now looked a little concerned.

Deepdrive waved off Miko's concerns, "Don't worry, Remix is fine. I left 'Wave to look after him, so everything is certain to be fine."

 _*On the Nemesis before the Energon Mine was attacked*_

 _Soundwave had set Remix on his monitor to make sure that the cat couldn't sneak away. Soundwave knew that if Remix got away and a Vehicon found the cat the cat would be gone before even Soundwave could do anything about it._

 _And that would mean a very sad and distressed Deepdrive._

 _Soundwave, however, was regretting his choice, intensely and almost immediately. The cat, upon seeing Soundwave's tentacles, which he was using to type, began attempting to climb them, and without failure, failing._

 _Soundwave was beginning to get irritated. He wanted to focus on his work._

 _After the umpteenth time the cat failed, Soundwave decided to eject Laserbeak and place Remix on top of her and ordered Laserbeak to fly around the room out of the way._

 _Remix loved the height, and to show his appreciation, he started meowing as loudly as possible._

 _Soundwave decided then and there, this was the first and last time that he was looking after Deepdrive's damn cat._

"I didn't really want to leave Remix with 'Wave, after all, 'Wave is usually busy with work, but after last time with Megsie… 'Wave's perfect for the job." Deepdrive finished.

 _Megatron placed Remix on the arm of his throne and began to stare menacingly into space. He didn't need to worry about the little pest, Deepdrive said that he like heights, and the armrest was pretty high for such a small creature._

 _Megatron began to listen to Dreadwing's report, well he tried. It was difficult when he felt a cat start to climb his arm._

 _Megatron began to twitch, then growl. Eventually, he went to swipe the thing only just stopping himself short remembering that Deepdrive was already mad at him, and whatever she was planning hadn't unfolded yet._

 _Then Megatron heard it. Chuckling. Not from Dreadwing, but from a mere vehicon that was stationed in the room._

 _Smiling, Megatron released his rage on the vehicon, Remix, now on his shoulder, beginning to attempt to climb his face._


	21. Chapter 21

Megatron was pacing angrily on the bridge, he had been since Soundwave's report, and it was starting to make both vehicons and officers nervous.

A vehicon named Steve stood nervously outside the bridge with a small cat, too afraid to enter. When Soundwave had left to search for Deepdrive, Remix had been left in Steve's care.

Despite Steve's regular life being completely uncertain and dangerous, having his continued existence rely on the tiny creature had so far been some of the most nerve-racking megacycles of his life. Remix was skilled at causing trouble, and Steve was already out of focus with one of his closest friends almost certainly dead in an energon mine.

Steve flinched when he heard Megatron bellow, "Soundwave, have we received any communications from the Autobots!"

From outside of the bridge, Steve couldn't see what Soundwave's response was, but the loud crashing noise of another monitor being destroyed was enough for Steve to figure it out.

This wasn't good, Steve realized. It had only been two megacycles and with Megatron's wrath increasing at this rate, it wouldn't be long until Steve's fellow vehicons would be once again punching bags.

Remix, who was happily resting on top of Steve's head meowed loudly, and Steve flinched, praying to whoever was out there that Megatron didn't hear and direct his anger towards him.

Megatron turned slightly towards the noise, and Steve could see himself joining his dear friend in the afterlife when to his greatest relief the Decepticons received a transmission.

"Answer it!" Megatron barked. Steve could hear the transmission open immediately.

"Hey, Megsie!" Steve relaxed when he heard Deepdrive's calming tone. It sounded like she was alright, which meant Megatron's threat level had just gone down a notch.

"I'm alive! And as you can probably tell by now, the Autobots have me. Anyhow, I'm calling you and Soundwave to a family meeting, so we can maybe stop the fighting and end this whole feud." Deepdrive spoke cheerfully, but Steve could tell that she sounded a little nervous.

End the fighting? Steve could barely believe it. This was fantastic. Maybe his life wouldn't be so short after all. Admittedly, Steve didn't know much –anything- about Deepdrive, but what little he had seen and had heard from rumors, Steve could guess that Deepdrive had almost as much influence on Megatron as Soundwave did, and if anyone could convince Megatron to call a truce, Steve was certain it was Soundwave.

This was big news. He had to tell the others later.

"Soundwave had found evidence in the mines that you were injured," Megatron said blandly. That didn't sound good, Megatron didn't seem to be buying into Deepdrive's idea.

"Don't worry, I just lost a pede is all, got crushed by a bolder, but I've given it a patch up, see, it's not functional, but I can fix it up better later."

"Are the Autobots threatening you by withholding proper treatment?" Megatron growled. Steve wasn't sure who he was angry at, Deepdrive for allowing herself to be blackmailed, or the Autobots for supposedly using such methods.

Steve heard Deepdrive sigh, "Megsie, I'm a medic more than capable of looking after herself, I'm just missing the parts to rebuild my pede is all… Speaking of taking care of things, where's Remix?"

Steve saw the perfect opportunity and ran with it, and chose that moment to enter the bridge. Megatron saw Steve and smirked.

"Right here."

Steve saw Deepdrive's faceplate on one of the larger screens, her optics focused on the cat on top of his head.

"Ohhh, hello Remix! Glad to see that you're okay and having a good time. Maybe I should have this mech look after you more often."

Steve suppressed a shiver of dread as Remix meowed loudly at his owner. Deepdrive's optics lowered to Steve's faceplate, and she squinted before her optics widened.

"Steve? Is that you? Oh, I'm so sorry about A71B, he told me that you two were close." Steve nodded in response, dumbfounded, officers rarely acknowledged vehicons apart from barking orders.

"When and where?" Megatron asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Deepdrive asked confused.

"The, 'family meeting'. When and where exactly will it be held?" Megatron asked again.

Deepdrive grinned, "Oh, tomorrow at… 0900hours… Central time…, and eh, Latitude: 6.87… Longitude: -77.65… I don't…" Deepdrive spoke slowly, obviously reading from a screen not understanding what she was saying meant. She shrugged, "Anyway, the rules for everyone are just this; family members only, so just you Megsie, Wave, Pax and I, not violence and most importantly, only 'I' statements!" She said sternly, and Steve began to ponder this femme's sanity.

Megatron glanced to Soundwave and they both nodded, "We'll be there, but no matter the conclusion, you're coming back with us."

Deepdrive smiled, "Can't wait to see you! Take good care of Remix for-" The transmission was cut off.

Well, it turns out there might be a chance for peace after all. And an unfortunate permanent job as a pet sitter.

Steve nervously approach Soundwave, who was still looking at Megatron, the two silently communicating. Steve hesitantly took Remix and offered him to Soundwave, who mindlessly accepted him.

Remix now gone, Steve did not wait to be dismissed to get out of there.

LINElineLINE

Deepdrive pouted when Ratchet cut off the transmission. "You didn't let them say goodbye." She whined.

Ratchet chose to ignore her, and knowing that this would go nowhere, Deepdrive chose to give up and looked over to the others.

"So… You okay with that alright? Any theories on me giving them secret battle plans?" She asked in exaggerated hurt.

Arcee glared at her, "No, I just think you keep finding ways of getting out of here within days of getting in."

Deepdrive nodded, pondering, "Believe me, this time it's probably for the best. Megsie has a temper and 'Wave has a history of being uncharacteristically murdery when I get captured. I mean, it's only been twenty-eight out of thirty-one times, but those odds don't look too good."

 **"** **I still don't know if you're joking about that or not."** Bumblebee beeped, referring to Deepdrive's claimed relationship with Soundwave.

Deepdrive just laughed in response, leaving Bumblebee none the wiser.


	22. Chapter 22

And on that next day, the two teams once again opened ground bridges in a forest clearing. From one portal, Megatron and Soundwave came out, seething in anger, and from the other, Optimus came out, confident but wary, and Deepdrive, who practically ran/hopped out and gave the two Decepticons a hug, almost making them stumble back.

"I missed you two!" She said, releasing the two from the hug and starting to lean on Soundwave for support, not able to last any longer with just one leg.

"Good to see you're still in one piece." Said Megatron.

Deepdrive grunted, "I believe I said that one of the rules was 'only 'I' statements'."

"But the meeting has just begun," Megatron reasoned, but Deepdrive's glare clearly said that she wasn't taking excuses.

"I suggest that we sit for the rest of the duration of this meeting," Optimus said, "Deepdrive is injured and I believe that it would be better for all of us."

Megatron snarled at the reminder of Deepdrive's injury, also hesitant to sit, but after glancing at Deepdrive, who looked tired just from the trip from the groundbridge, he agreed to sit, Soundwave following after helping Deepdrive.

Deepdrive panted a little, "I probably shouldn't have done that, I still haven't fixed my equilibrium sensors so it's a miracle I didn't fall over."

Soundwave shook his head disapprovingly at her.

Megatron sighed, " _I_ believe it was you, Deepdrive that organized this… 'family meeting', so _I_ believe you should start this slag off."

Deepdrive nodded, "I talked to Pax after I was captured and 'I believe we have come to an understanding. I wanted us all to talk and see if we can end this useless fighting and move on."

Megatron was furious, Deepdrive couldn't be serious. Agreeing with Optimus? After everything that they had been put through after Optimus did what he did?

" _I_ want to know how exactly you… came to an understanding?"

Deepdrive flinched at the sudden anger. Optimus decided to speak up.

"I have come to an understanding that how my decision back then would have looked to you and why you would have been unwilling to agree with it. I have learned from Deepdrive how hurtful such a decision may have been to you and I am sorry." Optimus spoke gravely and honestly, looking Megatron right in the eye.

Megatron wanted to explode. Sorry? He thought 'sorry' was going to be enough after all this time. After all that pain of loss that Deepdrive went through _again_. After attempting to kill Soundwave and Megatron himself. It was difficult to accept right off the bat, but, Megatron found himself hesitating.

Deepdrive was right about them being a 'family' of sorts, and Megatron was the older brother figure… and Orion Pax –now Optimus Prime- had been the youngest. The same part of Megatron that made him want to tear Optimus to pieces for hurting his family was the same part that secretly wanted so desperately to forgive Optimus. He had to hear Optimus out.

Still glaring, Megatron said, "I'm listening."

Deepdrive smiled, and Optimus had to take a moment to process what had just happened. It was difficult to believe that Megatron was actually willing to hear Optimus out, Optimus had never actually expected Megatron to listen. Optimus had tried to reason with Megatron countless times before without success, but this time…

Deepdrive saw Optimus' shocked face and gave him a smug look, and he could her say 'It's the 'I' statements kiddo."

LINElineLINE

Back at the Autobot base, the Autobots were gobsmacked as they were listening in on Optimus continue his explanation.

 **"** **Did, did he just?"** Bumblebee beeped.

Ratchet nodded, also taken by surprise. "Yes… I believe Megatron did just agree to listen to Optimus' peace proposal."

Even Arcee couldn't remain skeptical, "I would have never expected for this to go so far…"

Bulkhead nodded, "Me neither, that femme… She's two parts crazy and one of them happens to be the good kind."

LINElineLINE

Megatron finished hearing Optimus talk about why he sided with the council, why he never came home to talk about it –how he was sorry for that mistake, and finally how his responsibilities as a leader meant that he stopped acting based on his own personal opinion long ago, and Megatron was for the first time in a long time having a hard time finding a reason to be angry.

There was much to be conflicted about; past battles, emotional scars, his own vow of vengeance…

Deepdrive interrupted his thoughts, "I don't even know why we're fighting anymore, the council's gone, if it weren't for military structure everyone would be equal and I don't know about you but I just want to go home and maybe find Ravage."

Megatron nodded, he couldn't brush of Deepdrive's reasoning, being honest as it was and, well, from her. He looked to Soundwave, the only other person he came to for advice.

Soundwave replayed clips of Deepdrive's voice, "-The council's gone-I don't know about you but I just want to go home and-find Ravage"

Megatron nodded.

"Well then, perhaps we should start negotiating the conditions of our truce." Megatron didn't use an 'I' statement, but Deepdrive decided to let him off the hook.

LINElineLINE

Back at the Autobot base, jaws were dropped, Bumblebee was playing recordings of cheering and Ratchet was experiencing technical difficulties.

"Is this, is this actually happening, no joke?" Arcee asked.

Bumblebee nodded, grinning.

Ratchet was rebooting his systems.

LINElineLINE

On the Nemesis, a crowd of vehicons that were manning the groundbridge, plus a few extra including Steve who had been listening in had also started to celebrate. They had all heard about this from Steve and were for the first time in their short lives, hopeful for the future.

Dreadwing had heard the commotion from a hallway away and came into demand what was going on.

Usually, Steve would have been too nervous to answer, but currently, he was in too good of a mood.

"Lord Megatron has just agreed to discuss conditions for a peace agreement with Optimus."

Dreadwing had to take a moment to consider if Steve was lying to him, but after glancing at all the other vehicons, who were too thrilled to even notice his presence, Dreadwing simply smiled at the news.


	23. Epilogue

**Now, this is the closing chapter of the fic. I was going to end it at the last chapter but changed my mind thinking that it could use a bit extra. I will not be writing 'sequel' so to speak, but I am considering writing a series of connected drabbles set after this story if anyone is interested, so please tell me if you would be interested so I know if I should go for it.**

"I think the first condition should be that anyone who agrees to the truce shouldn't be punished for their actions during the war, no matter the side they're from," Deepdrive said.

Megatron and Soundwave both agreed swiftly, but Optimus hesitated to agree, thinking of all the atrocities that the Decepticons had done. He looked at Megatron who he saw staring back, testing him. Optimus chose to agree, knowing that by refusing this condition he would throw away all progress made so far.

Optimus took his turn, "I propose that neither side should allow their comrades to harm humans or any other alien species unless they are provoked."

Deepdrive was quick to agree, Soundwave following suit, and Megatron gruffly agreed.

Soundwave displayed an image of the nemesis on his screen and then an image of Cybertron. Optimus stared for a moment unsure of what Soundwave was trying to convey, so Deepdrive clarified for him.

"'Wave is proposing that because the nemesis is the only moveable base," She paused looking to Soundwave to check her reasoning, and he nodded giving his confirmation. "That it should be the base back on Cybertron," Soundwave confirmed her translation again

Optimus nodded, "That would be the better course of action, but both Decepticon and Autobots alike would be residing in the base…" Optimus said pointing out the lack of space for everyone.

Megatron snorted, "If we can fit all of the vehicons in our ship, fitting your small team isn't an issue."

Deepdrive's eyes widened in realization, "You can't leave the squishies!"

"Squishies?" Megatron asked in confusion.

Soundwave played a recording of Deepdrive's voice, "There were these three tiny squishy kids, and th-"

"Our human allies," Optimus said in realization.

"I don't want to never see them again!" Deepdrive begged.

"Then we may perhaps maintain our relationship with humanity," Optimus pondered.

Soundwave changed the subject by displaying a profile of Starscream's helm, this time everyone could read this as 'What are we going to do about Starscream?'.

It raised a valid question, as Starscream had gone completely rogue lately and would likely not follow up on the peace conditions.

"We shall deal with Starscream when he makes us aware of his presence, and how we deal with him shall be decided then, right now we have much more to discuss," Megatron answered Soundwave.

"So, you agree to the conditions so far? You really will agree to end this war?" Optimus asked.

Megatron smiled lightly, "I have no problem with the conditions so far, so what do you say," Megatron paused, deciding if he wanted to continue his statement, "… brother?" He asked offering his hand.

Optimus blinked, before smiling too, shaking Megatron's hand.

 **And with this small closing chapter I bid you goodbye, thanks for reading this! I have really enjoyed writing and seeing this story come to a conclusion. Once again, I just want to ask you for your opinion on whether or not I should create a drabble series after this.**


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